Finite temperature spectral function of Mott insulators and CDW States

TL;DR

This paper investigates how low temperatures affect the spectral functions of one-dimensional Mott insulators and CDW states, revealing damping of certain features relevant for photoemission experiments.

Contribution

It provides the first calculation of low-temperature spectral functions for these states, highlighting the damping of spin or charge features at low T.

Findings

Separation of spin and charge dispersing features at T=0.

Damping of one feature at very low temperatures.

Implications for interpreting photoemission data.

Abstract

We calculate the low temperature spectral function of one-dimensional incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) states and half-filled Mott insulators (MI). At $T=0$ there are two dispersing features associated with the spin and charge degrees of freedom respectively. We show that already at very low temperatures (compared to the gap) one of these features gets severely damped. We comment on implications of this result for photoemission experiments.