Cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted phonon formalism within density functional perturbation theory

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sharma, Abhiraj, Suryanarayana, Phanish
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Sharma, Abhiraj
Suryanarayana, Phanish
author_facet Sharma, Abhiraj
Suryanarayana, Phanish
contents We present a first-principles framework for the calculation of phonons in nanostructures with cyclic and/or helical symmetry. In particular, we derive a cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted representation of the dynamical matrix at arbitrary phonon wavevectors within a variationally formulated, symmetry-adapted density functional perturbation theory framework. In so doing, we also derive the acoustic sum rules for cylindrical geometries, which include a rigid-body rotational mode in addition to the three translational modes. We implement the cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted formalism within a high-order finite-difference discretization. Using carbon nanotubes as representative systems, we demonstrate the accuracy of the framework through excellent agreement with periodic plane-wave results. We further apply the framework to compute the Young's and shear moduli of carbon nanotubes, as well as the scaling laws governing the dependence of ring and radial breathing mode phonon frequencies on nanotube diameter. The elastic moduli are found to be in agreement with previous density functional theory and experimental results, while the phonon scaling laws show qualitative agreement with previous atomistic simulations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_08745
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted phonon formalism within density functional perturbation theory
Sharma, Abhiraj
Suryanarayana, Phanish
Materials Science
Chemical Physics
Computational Physics
We present a first-principles framework for the calculation of phonons in nanostructures with cyclic and/or helical symmetry. In particular, we derive a cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted representation of the dynamical matrix at arbitrary phonon wavevectors within a variationally formulated, symmetry-adapted density functional perturbation theory framework. In so doing, we also derive the acoustic sum rules for cylindrical geometries, which include a rigid-body rotational mode in addition to the three translational modes. We implement the cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted formalism within a high-order finite-difference discretization. Using carbon nanotubes as representative systems, we demonstrate the accuracy of the framework through excellent agreement with periodic plane-wave results. We further apply the framework to compute the Young's and shear moduli of carbon nanotubes, as well as the scaling laws governing the dependence of ring and radial breathing mode phonon frequencies on nanotube diameter. The elastic moduli are found to be in agreement with previous density functional theory and experimental results, while the phonon scaling laws show qualitative agreement with previous atomistic simulations.
title Cyclic- and helical-symmetry-adapted phonon formalism within density functional perturbation theory
topic Materials Science
Chemical Physics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08745