▎ 摘　　要

The spin-orbit splitting of graphene pi states can be strongly enhanced by external influences such as corrugation or proximity to heavier atoms. Here we investigate experimentally and theoretically whether such strong enhancement is possible for graphene on SiC(0001). By spin- and angle-resolved photoemission we found for two independently grown samples no resolvable spin-orbit splitting with an upper limit of our analysis of 20 meV. Our ab initio calculations predict a low spin-orbit splitting of 0.05 meV with small anisotropy but a local tenfold enhancement where hybridization with SiC substrate bands occurs.