Inelastic Quantum Transport and Peierls-like Mechanism in Carbon Nanotubes

We report on a theoretical study of inelastic quantum transport in $(3m,0)$ carbon nanotubes. By using a many-body description of the electron-phonon interaction in Fock space, a novel mechanism involving optical phonon emission (absorption) is shown to induce an unprecedented energy gap opening at half the phonon energy, $\mathrm{\hslash }{\omega }_0\mathrm{/}2$, above (below) the charge neutrality point. This mechanism, which is prevented by Pauli blocking at low bias voltages, is activated at bias voltages in the order of $\mathrm{\hslash }{\omega }_0$.