Implications of time-reversal symmetry for the band structure of single-wall carbon nanotubes

When electron states in carbon nanotubes are characterized by two-dimensional wave vectors with the components K ₁ and K ₂ along the nanotube circumference and cylindrical axis, respectively, then two such vectors symmetric about a M-point in the reciprocal space of graphene are shown to be related by the time-reversal operation. To each carbon nanotube there correspond five relevant M-points with the following coordinates: K ₁⁽¹⁾ = N/2R, K ₂⁽¹⁾= 0; K ₁⁽²⁾ = M/2R, K ₂⁽²⁾= −π/T; K ₁⁽³⁾= (2N −M)/2R, K ₂⁽³⁾= π/T; K ₁⁽⁴⁾= (M + N)/2R, K ₂⁽⁴⁾= -π/T, and K ₁⁽⁵⁾= (N − M)/2R, K ₂⁽⁵⁾= π/T, where M and N are the integers relating the chiral, C _h , symmetry, R, and translational, T, vectors of the nanotube by N R = C _h + M T, T = |T|, and R is the nanotube radius. The states at the edges of the one-dimensional Brillouin zone, which are symmetric about the M-points with K ₂ = ±π/T, are shown to be degenerate due to the time-reversal symmetry.