Luttinger liquid behavior in multi-wall carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper derives and analyzes the low-energy behavior of multi-wall carbon nanotubes, revealing Luttinger liquid characteristics and how they evolve with increasing shell number, impacting tunneling and transport properties.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive bosonization-based model including Coulomb interactions, screening, and electron hopping, providing new insights into Luttinger liquid behavior in nanotubes.

Findings

Luttinger liquid power laws are observed in tunneling density of states.

Exponents approach Fermi liquid values very slowly as shells increase.

Results are applicable to ropes of single-wall nanotubes with minor modifications.

Abstract

The low-energy theory for multi-wall carbon nanotubes including the long-ranged Coulomb interactions, internal screening effects, and single-electron hopping between graphite shells is derived and analyzed by bosonization methods. Characteristic Luttinger liquid power laws are found for the tunneling density of states, with exponents approaching their Fermi liquid value only very slowly as the number of conducting shells increases. With minor modifications, the same conclusions apply to transport in ropes of single-wall nanotubes.