  Graphene, a two-dimensional crystal made of carbon atoms, provides a new and
unexpected bridge between low and high-energy physics. The field has evolved
very fast and very good reviews are already available in the literature.
Graphene constitutes a condensed matter realization of lower dimensional
quantum field theory models that were proposed to confront important -- still
unresolved -- puzzles of the area: Chiral symmetry breaking and quark
confinement. The new materials named topological insulators, closely related to
graphene, are physical realizations of topological field theory. This article
reviews some of these topics with the aim of bridging the gap and making these
condensed matter issues accessible to high energy readers. The electronic
interactions in the monolayer are analyzed with special emphasis on the recent
experimental confirmation of some theoretical predictions. The issue of
spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in the model materials is also reviewed.
Finally we give an extensive description of some recent topological aspects of
graphene that allow to understand the main aspects of topological insulators.
