Hall conductance from Berry curvature in carbon nanotubes

J. D. Brand, I. Snyman

Published 2011-05-24Version 1

We analytically show that a gap is induced around the Dirac point in the electronic spectrum of a previously metallic nanotube, in the presence of electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the tube axis. For realistic values of the fields, a gap of at least a few meV can appear. Despite the quasi-one dimensional nature of the system, the gapped state is associated with a non-zero topological invariant and supports a Hall effect. This is revealed when the flux through the tube is varied by one flux quantum, which leads to exactly one electron per spin being transported between the ends of the tube.