English

Topological classification of the single-wall carbon nanotube

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2019-03-13 v2

Abstract

The single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) can be a one-dimensional topological insulator, which is characterized by a Z\mathbb{Z}-topological invariant, winding number. Using the analytical expression for the winding number, we classify the topology for all possible chiralities of SWNTs in the absence and presence of a magnetic field, which belongs to the topological categories of BDI and AIII, respectively. We find that the majority of SWNTs are nontrivial topological insulators in the absence of a magnetic field. In addition, the topological phase transition takes place when the band gap is closed by applying a magnetic field along the tube axis, in all the SWNTs except armchair nanotubes. The winding number determines the number of edge states localized at the tube ends by the bulk-edge correspondence, the proof of which is given for SWNTs in general. This enables the identification of the topology in experiments.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1812.06399,
  title  = {Topological classification of the single-wall carbon nanotube},
  author = {Rin Okuyama and Wataru Izumida and Mikio Eto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.06399},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

11 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables