Strain-induced Aharonov-Bohm effect at nanoscale and ground state of a carbon nanotube with zigzag edges

Magnetic flux piercing a carbon nanotube induce periodic gap oscillations which represent the Aharonov-Bohm effect at nanoscale. Here we point out, by analyzing numerically the anisotropic Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice, that similar oscillations should be observable when uniaxial strain is applied to a nanotube. In both cases, a vector potential (magnetic- or strain-induced) may affect the measurable quantities at zero field. The analysis, carried out within the Gutzwiller Approximation, shows that for small semiconducting nanotube with zigzag edges and realistic value of the Hubbard repulsion (U/t0=1.6, with t0≈2.5eV being the equilibrium hopping integral) energy gap can be reduced by a factor of more than 100 due to the strain. •Periodic gap oscillations are found for semiconducting nanotube with zigzag edges upon longitudinal strain.•Gutzwiller approximation is applied to determine the role of electron correlations.•The interpretation of the phenomena as a version of the Aharonov-Bohm effect is put forward.