Abstract Submitted to the    NANOTUBE'04 Conference:

Depending on their helicity carbon nanotubes can be classed in three forms named zigzag, armchair and chiral. The first two forms are achiral, whereas the so-called chiral nanotubes are real chiral molecular structures. Due to their chiral character, the mechanical dynamics of chiral nanotubes in a magnetic field are not equivalent to the behaviour of zigzag and armchair nanotubes under the same conditions. By fundamental symmetry considerations it can be shown that the movement of the chiral nanotubes depends on both, the relative orientation and magnitude, of the nanotube’s linear momentum and the externally applied magnetic field. The magnitude of these effects is estimated by the application of the model of a free electron on a helix which is quantum-mechanically solved. An analytical solution of this model is possible and the results will be quantitatively evaluated for chiral carbon nanotubes. The experimental conditions for an observation of these effects will be discussed based on the theoretical predictions.