Quantum Field Theory of the Pinned Density Wave

TL;DR

This paper presents a quantum field theoretical model explaining how electric fields induce soliton pairs in pinned density waves, showing quantum effects lower the threshold for pair creation compared to classical models.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum field theory approach to density wave depinning, incorporating Coulomb blockade effects and calculating quantum states and phase expectations.

Findings

Quantum nucleation occurs at a threshold lower than classical predictions.

Coulomb blockade prevents pair creation below a sharp threshold.

Quantum phase can be significantly smaller than classical estimates.

Abstract

A model is discussed in which an electric field induces quantum nucleation of soliton-antisoliton pairs in a pinned charge or spin density wave. Coulomb blockade prevents pair creation until the electric field exceeds a sharp threshold value, which can be much smaller than the classical depinning field. We calculate the vacuum state energy and expectation value of the phase, which is treated as a quantum scalar field. We find that the phase can also be much smaller, below threshold, than predicted by classical ``sliding'' density wave models.