LAUSR

Dissipation in the quantum solid of graphene is couched in the methodology of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of an open quantum system. Of specific interest is the absorption accompanied by relaxation of energy because of an external frequency-dependent oscillatory electric field. At optical frequencies and for sizable amplitude of the electric field, the response is nonlinear, the treatment of which is simplified by means of a ``rotating wave approximation'' in which rapidly changing, off-resonance terms are omitted. The characteristic resonant frequency is what quantifies the tunneling between the valence and the conduction bands across the so-called Dirac point in graphene. The valence and the conduction states are mapped into the eigenstates of pseudo Pauli spin operators and the corresponding Hamiltonian, when embedded in a dissipative heat bath comprising the surrounding phonons and other electrons, makes possible a comprehensive analysis in terms of the much-studied spin-boson model of dissipative quantum statistical mechanics. A master equation for the density operator associated with this Hamiltonian yields rate equations for the mean population of the valence and the conduction states as well as the transition (matrix elements) between them. Further approximation of these rate equations allows contact with phenomenological treatments of the nonlinear optical conductivity. The present paper then provides a microscopic framework for investigating the response characteristics of a material of great topical interest using contemporary methods of quantum dissipation.