Damping of electron Zitterbewegung in carbon nanotubes

• Calculations of ZB in carbon nanotubes within the density matrix techniques.
• Phenomenological damping included.
• Exponential decay of ZB oscillations in time instead power-like in damping-free case.

Zitterbewegung (ZB, trembling motion) of electrons in semiconductor carbon nanotubes is described taking into account dephasing processes. The density matrix formalism is used for the theory. Differences between decay of ZB oscillations due to electron localization and that due to dephasing are discussed.