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We carefully revisit the electron-boson scattering problem, going beyond popular semi-classical treatments. By providing numerically exact results valid at finite temperatures, we demonstrate the existence of a regime of electron-boson scattering where quantum localization processes become relevant despite the absence of extrinsic disorder. Localization in the Anderson sense is caused by the emergent randomness resulting from a large thermal boson population, being effective at transient times before diffusion can set in. Compelling evidence of this transient localization phenomenon is provided by the observation of a distinctive displaced Drude peak (DDP) in the optical absorption and the ensuing suppression of conductivity. Our findings identify a general route for anomalous metallic behavior that can broadly apply in interacting quantum matter.

We study long-range interacting electrons on the triangular lattice using mixed quantum/classical simulations going beyond the usual classical descriptions of the lattice Coulomb fluid. Our results in the strong interaction limit indicate that the emergence and proliferation of quantum defects governs the low-temperature dynamics of this strongly frustrated system, in a way that crucially depends on the degree of anisotropy of the electronic structure. The present theoretical findings explain the phenomenology observed in the $\theta$-ET$_2$X charge ordering materials as they fall out of equilibrium. The approach devised here can be easily generalized to address other systems where charge frustration is lifted by quantum fluctuations.

Scattering by slowly fluctuating degrees of freedom can cause a transient localization of the current-carrying electrons in metals, driving the system away from normal metallic behavior. We illustrate and characterize this general phenomenon by studying how signatures of localization emerge in the optical conductivity of electrons interacting with slow bosonic fluctuations. The buildup of quantum localization corrections manifests itself in the emergence of a displaced Drude peak (DDP), whose existence strongly alters the low frequency optical response and suppresses the d.c. conductivity. We find that for sufficiently strong interactions, many-body renormalization of the fluctuating field induced at metallic densities enhances electron localization and the ensuing DDP phenomenon in comparison with the well-studied low concentration limit. Our results are compatible with the frequent observation of DDPs in electronic systems where slowly fluctuating degrees of freedom couple significantly to the charge carriers., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, Submission to SciPost

Bloch-Boltzmann transport theory fails to describe the carrier diffusion in current crystalline organic semiconductors, where the presence of large-amplitude thermal molecular motions causes substantial dynamical disorder. The charge transport mechanism in this original situation is now understood in terms of a transient localization of the carriers' wavefunctions, whose applicability is however limited to the strong disorder regime. In order to deal with the ever-improving performances of new materials, we develop here a unified theoretical framework that includes transient localization theory as a limiting case, and smoothly connects with the standard band description when molecular disorder is weak. The theory, which specifically adresses the emergence of dynamical localization corrections to semiclassical transport, is used to determine a "transport phase diagram" of high-mobility organic semiconductors., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures completely revised version

The electrodynamic response of organic spin liquids with highly-frustrated triangular lattices has been measured in a wide energy range. While the overall optical spectra of these Mott insulators are governed by transitions between the Hubbard bands, distinct in-gap excitations can be identified at low temperatures and frequencies which we attribute to the quantum spin liquid state. For the strongly correlated $\beta^{\prime}$-EtMe$_3$\-Sb\-[Pd(dmit)$_2$]$_2$, we discover enhanced conductivity below $175~{\rm cm}^{-1}$, comparable to the energy of the magnetic coupling $J\approx 250$ K. For $\omega\rightarrow 0$ these low-frequency excitations vanish faster than the charge-carrier response subject to Mott-Hubbard correlations, resulting in a dome-shape band peaked at 100~\cm. Possible relations to spinons, magnons and disorder are discussed.

The Widom line identifies the locus in the phase diagram where a supercritical gas crosses over from gas-like to a more liquid-like behavior. A similar transition exists in correlated electron liquids, where the interplay of Coulomb repulsion, bandwidth and temperature triggers between the Mott insulating state and an incoherent conduction regime. Here we explore the electrodynamic response of three organic quantum spin liquids with different degrees of effective correlation, where the absence of magnetic order enables unique insight into the nature of the genuine Mott state down to the most relevant low-temperature region. Combining optical spectroscopy with pressure-dependent dc transport and theoretical calculations, we succeeded to construct a phase diagram valid for all Mott insulators on a quantitative scale. In the vicinity of the low-temperature phase boundary, we discover metallic fluctuations within the Mott gap, exhibiting enhanced absorption upon cooling that is not present in antiferromagnetic Mott insulators. Our findings reveal the phase coexistence region and Pomeranchuk-like anomaly of the Mott transition, previously predicted but never observed., Comment: Supplementary information after Acknowledgements

Charge transport in crystalline organic semiconductors is intrinsically limited by the presence of large thermal molecular motions, which are a direct consequence of the weak van der Waals inter-molecular interactions. These lead to an original regime of transport called \textit{transient localization}, sharing features of both localized and itinerant electron systems. After a brief review of experimental observations that pose a challenge to the theory, we concentrate on a commonly studied model which describes the interaction of the charge carriers with inter-molecular vibrations. We present different theoretical approaches that have been applied to the problem in the past, and then turn to more modern approaches that are able to capture the key microscopic phenomenon at the origin of the puzzling experimental observations, i.e. the quantum localization of the electronic wavefuntion at timescales shorter than the typical molecular motions. We describe in particular a relaxation time approximation which clarifies how the transient localization due to dynamical molecular motions relates to the Anderson localization realized for static disorder, and allows us to devise strategies to improve the mobility of actual compounds. The relevance of the transient localization scenario to other classes of systems is briefly discussed., Comment: Accepted for publication in Advanced Functional Materials - Special issue on Organic Single Crystals

The role of the multiorbital effects on the emergence of frustrated electronic orders on the triangular lattice at half filling is investigated through an extended spinless fermion Hubbard model. By using two complementary approaches, unrestricted Hartree-Fock and exact diagonalizations, we unravel a very rich phase diagram controlled by the strength of both local and off-site Coulomb interactions and by the interorbital hopping anisotropy ratio $t'/t$. Three robust unconventional electronic phases, a pinball liquid, an inverse pinball liquid, and a large-unit-cell $\sqrt{12} \times \sqrt{12}$ droplet phase, are found to be generic in the triangular geometry, being controlled by the band structure parameters. The latter are also stabilized in the isotropic limit of our microscopic model, which recovers the standard SU(2) spinful extended single-band Hubbard model., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

We explore the charge transport mechanism in organic semiconductors based on a model that accounts for the thermal intermolecular disorder at work in pure crystalline compounds, as well as extrinsic sources of disorder that are present in current experimental devices. Starting from the Kubo formula, we develop a theoretical framework that relates the time-dependent quantum dynamics of electrons to the frequency-dependent conductivity. The electron mobility is then calculated through a relaxation time approximation that accounts for quantum localization corrections beyond Boltzmann theory, and allows us to efficiently address the interplay between highly conducting states in the band range and localized states induced by disorder in the band tails. The emergence of a "transient localization" phenomenon is shown to be a general feature of organic semiconductors, that is compatible with the bandlike temperature dependence of the mobility observed in pure compounds. Carrier trapping by extrinsic disorder causes a crossover to a thermally activated behavior at low temperature, which is progressively suppressed upon increasing the carrier concentration, as is commonly observed in organic field-effect transistors. Our results establish a direct connection between the localization of the electronic states and their conductive properties, formalizing phenomenological considerations that are commonly used in the literature.

We propose an intrinsic spin scattering mechanism in graphene originated by the interplay of atomic spin-orbit interaction and the local curvature induced by flexural distortions of the atomic lattice. Starting from a multiorbital tight-binding Hamiltonian with spin-orbit coupling considered non-perturbatively, we derive an effective Hamiltonian for the spin scattering of the Dirac electrons due to flexural distortions. We compute the spin lifetime due to both flexural phonons and ripples and we find values in the microsecond range at room temperature. Interestingly, this mechanism is anisotropic on two counts. First, the relaxation rate is different for off-plane and in-plane spin quantization axis. Second, the spin relaxation rate depends on the angle formed by the crystal momentum with the carbon-carbon bond. In addition, the spin lifetime is also valley dependent. The proposed mechanism sets an upper limit for spin lifetimes in graphene and will be relevant when samples of high quality can be fabricated free of extrinsic sources of spin relaxation., Comment: extended version with 7 pages, 4 figures and several new results; a numerical error has been corrected leading to longer spin lifetimes than in the previous version

By comparing photoemission spectroscopy with a non-perturbative dynamical mean field theory extension to many-body ab initio calculations, we show in the prominent case of pentacene crystals that an excellent agreement with experiment for the bandwidth, dispersion and lifetime of the hole carrier bands can be achieved in organic semiconductors provided that one properly accounts for the coupling to molecular vibrational modes and the presence of disorder. Our findings rationalize the growing experimental evidence that even the best band structure theories based on a many-body treatment of electronic interactions cannot reproduce the experimental photoemission data in this important class of materials.

The interplay of Coulomb repulsion and geometrical frustration on charge-driven quantum phase transitions is explored. The ground state phase diagram of an extended Hubbard model on an anisotropic triangular lattice relevant to quarter-filled layered organic materials contains homogeneous metal, 'pinball' and three-fold charge ordered metallic phases. The stability of the 'pinball' phase occurring for strong Coulomb repulsions is found to be strongly influenced by geometrical frustration. A comparison with a spinless model reproduces the transition from the homogeneous metallic phase to a pinball liquid, which indicates that the spin correlations should play a much smaller role than the charge correlations in the metallic phase close to the charge ordering transition. Spin degeneracy is, however, essential to describe the dependence of the system on geometrical frustration. Based on finite temperature Lanczos diagonalization we find that the effective Fermi temperature scale, T*, of the homogeneous metal vanishes at the quantum phase transition to the ordered metallic phase driven by the Coulomb repulsion. Above this temperature scale 'bad' metallic behavior is found which is robust against geometrical frustration in general. Quantum critical phenomena are not found whenever nesting of the Fermi surface is strong, possibly indicating a first order transition instead. 'Reentrant' behavior in the phase diagram is encountered whenever the 2kF-CDW instability competes with the Coulomb driven three-fold charge order transition. The relevance of our results to the family of quarter-filled materials: theta-(BEDT-TTF)2X is discussed., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures

The consequences of several microscopic interactions on the photoemission spectra of crystalline organic semiconductors (OSC) are studied theoretically. It is argued that their relative roles can be disentangled by analyzing both their temperature and their momentum/energy dependence. Our analysis shows that the polaronic thermal band narrowing, that is the foundation of most theories of electrical transport in OSC, is inconsistent in the range of microscopic parameters appropriate for these materials. An alternative scenario is proposed to explain the experimental trends., Comment: 4+ pages, revised conclusions; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

A relation derived from the Kubo formula shows that optical conductivity measurements below the gap frequency in doped semiconductors can be used to probe directly the time-dependent quantum dynamics of charge carriers. This allows to extract fundamental quantities such as the elastic and inelastic scattering rates, as well as the localization length in disordered systems. When applied to crystalline organic semiconductors, an incipient electron localization caused by large dynamical lattice disorder is unveiled, implying a breakdown of semiclassical transport., Comment: Revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communications

Electron spin relaxation rate (eSR) is investigated on several organic semiconductors of different morphologies and molecular structures, using avoided level crossing muon spectroscopy as a local spin probe. We find that two functionalized acenes (polycrystalline tri(isopropyl)silyl-pentacene and amorphous 5,6,11,12-tetraphenyltetracene) exhibit eSRs with an Arrhenius-like temperature dependence, each with two characteristic energy scales similar to those expected from vibrations. Polycrystalline tris(8-hydroxyquinolate)gallium shows a similar behavior. The observed eSR for these molecules is no greater than 0.85 MHz at 300 K. The variety of crystal structures and transport regimes that these molecules possess, as well as the local nature of the probe, strongly suggest an intra-molecular phenomenon general to many organic semiconductors, contrasting the commonly assumed spin relaxation models based on inter-molecular charge carrier transport.

A model describing the low density carrier state in an organic single crystal FET with high-$\kappa$ gate dielectrics is studied. The interplay between charge carrier coupling with inter-molecular vibrations in the bulk of the organic material and the long-range interaction induced at the interface with a polar dielectric is investigated. This interplay is responsible for the stabilization of a polaronic state with an internal structure extending on few lattice sites, at much lower coupling strengths than expected from the polar interaction alone. This effect could give rise to polaron self-trapping in high-$\kappa$ organic FET's without invoking unphysically large values of the carrier interface interaction., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures

We analyze a model that accounts for the inherently large thermal lattice fluctuations associated to the weak van der Waals inter-molecular bonding in crystalline organic semiconductors. In these materials the charge mobility generally exhibits a "metallic-like" power-law behavior, with no sign of thermally activated hopping characteristic of carrier self-localization, despite apparent mean-free-paths comparable or lower than the inter-molecular spacing. Our results show that such puzzling transport regime can be understood from the simultaneous presence of band carriers and incoherent states that are dynamically localized by the thermal lattice disorder., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

The interplay between long-range and local Coulomb repulsion in strongly interacting electron systems is explored through a two-dimensional Hubbard-Wigner model. An unconventional metallic state is found in which collective low-energy excitations characteristic of the Wigner crystal induce a flow of electrical current despite the absence of one-electron spectral weight at the Fermi surface. Photoemission experiments on certain quarter-filled layered molecular crystals should observe a gap in the excitation spectrum whereas optical spectroscopy should find a finite Drude weight indicating metallic behavior., Comment: 10 pages, accepted for publication in PRB

We derive an effective cluster model to address the transport properties of mutually interacting small polarons. We propose a decoupling scheme where the hopping dynamics of any given particle is determined by separating out explicitly the degrees of freedom of its environment, which are treated as a statistical bath. The general cavity method developed here shows that the long-range Coulomb repulsion between the carriers leads to a net increase of the thermal activation barrier for electrical transport, and hence to a sizable reduction of the carrier mobility. A mean-field calculation of this effect is provided, based on the known correlation functions of the interacting liquid in two and three dimensions. The present theory gives a natural explanation of recent experiments performed in organic field-effect transistors with highly polarizable gate dielectrics, and might well find application in other classes of polaronic systems such as doped transition-metal oxides.

We apply dynamical mean field theory to study a prototypical model that describes charge ordering in the presence of both electron-lattice interactions and intersite electrostatic repulsion between electrons. We calculate the optical and d.c. conductivity, and derive approximate formulas valid in the limiting electron-lattice coupling regimes. In the weak coupling regime, we recover the usual behavior of charge density waves, characterized by a transfer of spectral weight due to the opening of a gap in the excitation spectrum. In the opposite limit of very strong electron-lattice coupling, instead, the charge ordering transition is signaled by a global enhancement of the optical absorption, with no appreciable spectral weight transfer. Such behavior is related to the progressive suppression of thermally activated charge defects taking place below the critical temperature. At intermediate values of the coupling within the polaronic regime, a complex behavior is obtained where both mechanisms of transfer and enhancement of spectral weight coexist., Comment: 1 figure added, illustrating the optical sum rule

We investigate the temperature and doping dependence of the optical conductivity $\sigma(\omega)$ of Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_4$ in terms of magnetic/lattice polaron formation. We employ dynamical mean-field theory in the context of the Holstein-t-J model where an exact analytical solution is available in the limit of infinite connectivity. We show that the pseudogap features in the optical conductivity of this compound can be associated to the formation of lattice polarons assisted by the magnetic interaction.

We analyze the electrostatic interactions between a single graphene layer and a SiO$_2$ susbtrate, and other materials which may exist in its environment. We obtain that the leading effects arise from the polar modes at the SiO$_2$ surface, and water molecules, which may form layers between the graphene sheet and the substrate. The strength of the interactions implies that graphene is pinned to the substrate at distances greater than a few lattice spacings. The implications for graphene nanoelectromechanical systems, and for the interaction between graphene and a STM tip are also considered., Comment: improved introduction, section on suspended graphene corrected

We study the effects of polarizable substrates such as SiO2 and SiC on the carrier dynamics in graphene. We find that the quasiparticle spectrum acquires a finite broadening due to the long-range interaction with the polar modes at the interface between graphene and the substrate. This mechanism results in a density dependent electrical resistivity, that exhibits a sharp increase around room temperature, where it can become the dominant limiting factor of electron transport. The effects are weaker in doped bilayer graphene, due to the more conventional parabolic band dispersion., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figs. Corrected for spinor overlap factors

Electronic transport through rubrene single-crystal field effect transistors (FETs) is investigated experimentally in the high carrier density regime (n ~ 0.1 carrier/molecule). In this regime, we find that the current does not increase linearly with the density of charge carriers, and tends to saturate. At the same time, the activation energy for transport unexpectedly increases with increasing n. We perform a theoretical analysis in terms of a well-defined microscopic model for interacting Frohlich polarons, that quantitatively accounts for our experimental observations. This work is particularly significant for our understanding of electronic transport through organic FETs., Comment: Extended version with 1 additional figure and an appendix explaining the consistency of the theoretical calculation

Recent experiments have demonstrated that the performances of organic FETs strongly depend on the dielectric properties of the gate insulator. In particular, it has been shown that the temperature dependence of the mobility evolves from a metallic-like to an insulating behavior upon increasing the dielectric constant of the gate material. This phenomenon can be explained in terms of the formation of small polarons, due to the polar interaction of the charge carriers with the phonons at the organic/dielectric interface. Building on this model, the possible consequences of the Coulomb repulsion between the carriers at high concentrations are analyzed., Comment: proceedings of the SMEC'07 conference, submitted to the Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids

We derive the exact solution for the optical conductivity $\sigma(\omega)$ of one hole in the Holstein-t-J model in the framework of dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). We investigate the magnetic and phonon features associated with polaron formation as a function of the exchange coupling $J$, of the electron-phonon interaction $\lambda$ and of the temperature. Our solution directly relates the features of the optical conductivity to the excitations in the single-particle spectral function, revealing two distinct mechanisms of closing and filling of the optical pseudogap that take place upon varying the microscopic parameters. We show that the optical absorption at the polaron crossover is characterized by a coexistence of a magnon peak at low frequency and a broad polaronic band at higher frequency. An analytical expression for $\sigma(\omega)$ valid in the polaronic regime is presented., Comment: improved version, as submitted to Phys. Rev. B

We employ dynamical mean-field theory to study the optical conductivity $\sigma(\omega)$ of one hole in the Holstein-t-J model. We provide an exact solution for $\sigma(\omega)$ in the limit of infinite connectivity. We apply our analysis to Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_4$. We show that our model can explain many features of the optical conductivity in this compounds in terms of magnetic/lattice polaron formation., Comment: Proceeding of SCES07 Conference

We study the spectral properties of a system of electrons interacting through long-range Coulomb potential on a one-dimensional chain. When the interactions dominate over the electronic bandwidth, the charges arrange in an ordered configuration that minimizes the electrostatic energy, forming Hubbard's generalized Wigner lattice. In such strong coupling limit, the low energy excitations are quantum domain-walls that behave as fractionalized charges, and can be bound in excitonic pairs. Neglecting higher order excitations, the system properties are well described by an effective Hamiltonian in the subspace with one pair of domain-walls, which can be solved exactly. The optical conducitivity $\sigma(\omega)$ and the spectral function $A(k,\omega)$ can be calculated analytically, and reveal unique features of the unscreened Coulomb interactions that can be directly observed in experiments.

In organic field effect transistors (FETs), charges move near the surface of an organic semiconductor, at the interface with a dielectric. In the past, the nature of the microscopic motion of charge carriers -that determines the device performance- has been related to the quality of the organic semiconductor. Recently, it has been appreciated that also the nearby dielectric has an unexpectedly strong influence. The mechanisms responsible for this influence are not understood. To investigate these mechanisms we have studied transport through organic single crystal FETs with different gate insulators. We find that the temperature dependence of the mobility evolves from metallic-like to insulating-like with increasing the dielectric constant of the insulator. The phenomenon is accounted for by a two-dimensional Frohlich polaron model that quantitatively describes our observations and shows that increasing the dielectric polarizability results in a crossover from the weak to the strong polaronic coupling regime.

The crystallization of electrons in quasi low-dimensional solids is studied in a model which retains the full three-dimensional nature of the Coulomb interactions. We show that restricting the electron motion to layers (or chains) gives rise to a rich sequence of structural transitions upon varying the particle density. In addition, the concurrence of low-dimensional electron motion and isotropic Coulomb interactions leads to a sizeable stabilization of the Wigner crystal, which could be one of the mechanisms at the origin of the charge ordered phases frequently observed in such compounds.

The optical properties of polarons are studied in the framework of the Holstein model by applying the dynamical mean-field theory. This approach allows to enlighten important quantitative and qualitative deviations from the limiting treatments of small polaron theory, that should be considered when interpreting experimental data. In the antiadiabatic regime, accounting on the same footing for a finite phonon frequency and a finite electron bandwidth allows to address the evolution of the optical absorption away from the well-understood molecular limit. It is shown that the width of the multiphonon peaks in the optical spectra depends on the temperature and on the frequency in a way that contradicts the commonly accepted results, most notably in the strong coupling case. In the adiabatic regime, on the other hand, the present method allows to identify a wide range of parameters of experimental interest, where the electron bandwidth is comparable or larger than the broadening of the Franck-Condon line, leading to a strong modification of both the position and the shape of the polaronic absorption. An analytical expression is derived in the limit of vanishing broadening, which improves over the existing formulas and whose validity extends to any finite-dimensional lattice. In the same adiabatic regime, at intermediate values of the interaction strength, the optical absorption exhibits a characteristic reentrant behavior, with the emergence of sharp features upon increasing the temperature -- polaron interband transitions -- which are peculiar of the polaron crossover, and for which analytical expressions are provided., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures

We review some results on the role played by dielectric polarons at the metal-insulator transition in polarizable materials, taking into account the long-range nature of the Coulomb interactions. The occurrence of a polarization catastrophe is examined in a model describing a Wigner crystal of polarons. The possible relevance of this scenario in the cuprates and in metal-ammonia solutions is discussed., Comment: Proceedings of the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Course CLXI -"Polarons in Bulk Materials and Systems with Reduced Dimensionality"

The phase diagram of a system of electrons hopping on a square lattice and interacting through long-range Coulomb forces is studied as a function of density and interaction strength. The presence of a lattice strongly enhances the stability of the Wigner crystal phase as compared to the case of the two-dimensional electron gas., Comment: ECRYS-2005 proceedings

We study the electronic spectral properties in two examples of strongly interacting systems: a Mott-Hubbard insulator with additional electron-boson interactions, and a polaronic semiconductor. An approximate unified framework is developed for the high energy part of the spectrum, in which the electrons move in a random field determined by the interplay between magnetic and bosonic fluctuations. When the boson under consideration is a lattice vibration, the resulting isotope effect on the spectral properties is similar in both cases, being strongly temperature and energy dependent, in qualitative agreement with recent photoemission experiments in the cuprates., Comment: Refs. added, revised introduction and conclusion

Recent STM measurements have revealed the existence of periodic charge modulations at the surface of certain cuprate superconductors. Here we show that the observed patterns are compatible with the formation of a three-dimensional crystal of doped holes, with space correlations extending between different Cu-O layers. This puts severe constraints on the dynamical stability of the crystallised hole structure, resulting in a close relationship between the periodicity of the electronic modulation and the interlayer distance., Comment: completed reference list, fig. 3 corrected; accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J. B, Rapid Notes

Transport properties of itinerant electrons interacting with local spins are analyzed as function of the bandwidth, $W$, the exchange interaction, $J$, and the band filling, $n$, near the band edge. Numerical results have been obtained within the dynamical mean-field approximation and interpreted with the help of analytical treatments. If spatial correlations of the magnetic fluctuations can be neglected, and defining $\rho (m)$ as the magnetization dependent resistivity, we find that $\delta \rho / \rho (0) \sim n^{-4/3}$ for $J / W, n \ll 1$ (weak coupling, low density limit), $\delta \rho / \rho (0) \sim constant$, for $J / W \gg 1, n \ll 1$ (double exchange, low density limit), where $\delta \rho = \partial \rho / \partial m^2 |_{m^2 \to 0}$. Possible limitations from ignoring both localization effects and critical fluctuations are also considered., Comment: 7 pages

A one--dimensional tight--binding model of electrons with long--range Coulomb interactions is studied in the limit where double site occupancy is forbidden and the Coulomb coupling strength $V$ is large with respect to the hopping amplitude $t$. The quantum problem of a kink--antikink pair generated in the Wigner lattice (the classical ground state for $t=0$) is solved for fillings $n=1/s$, where $s$ is an integer larger than 1. The pair energy becomes negative for a relatively high value of $V$, $V_c/t\approx s^3$. This signals the initial stage of the quantum melting of the Wigner lattice.

We present a unified view of the transport properties of small-polarons in the Holstein model at low carrier densities, based on the Dynamical Mean Field Theory. The nonperturbative nature of the approach allows us to study the crossover from classical activated motion at high temperatures to coherent motion at low temperatures. Large quantitative discrepancies from the standard polaronic formulae are found. The scaling properties of the resistivity are analysed, and a simple interpolation formula is proposed in the nonadiabatic regime.

We study a system of electrons interacting through long--range Coulomb forces on a one--dimensional lattice, by means of a variational ansatz which is the strong--coupling counterpart of the Gutzwiller wave function. Our aim is to describe the quantum analogue of Hubbard's classical ``generalized Wigner crystal''. We first analyse charge ordering in a system of spinless fermions, with particular attention to the effects of lattice commensurability. We argue that for a general (rational) number of electrons per site $n$ there are three regimes, depending on the relative strength $V$ of the long--range Coulomb interaction (as compared to the hopping amplitude $t$). For very large $V$ the quantum ground state differs little from Hubbard's classical solution, for intermediate to large values of $V$ we recover essentially the Wigner crystal of the continuum model, and for small $V$ the charge modulation amounts to a small--amplitude charge--density wave. We then include the spin degrees of freedom and show that in the Wigner crystal regimes (i.e. for large $V$) they are coupled by an antiferromagnetic kinetic exchange $J$, which turns out to be smaller than the energy scale governing the charge degrees of freedom. Our results shed new light on the insulating phases of organic quasi--1D compounds where the long--range part of the interaction is unscreened, and magnetic and charge orderings coexist at low temperatures., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication on Phys. Rev. B

We study a system of electrons on a one-dimensional lattice, interacting through the long range Coulomb forces, by means of a variational technique which is the strong coupling analog of the Gutzwiller approach. The problem is thus the quantum version of Hubbard's classical model of the generalized Wigner crystal [J. Hubbard, Phys. Rev. B 17, 494 (1978)]. The magnetic exchange energy arising from quantum fluctuations is calculated, and turns out to be smaller than the energy scale governing charge degrees of freedom. This approach could be relevant in insulating quasi-one-dimensional compounds where the long range Coulomb interactions are not screened. In these compounds charge order often appears at high temperatures and coexists with magnetic order at low temperatures., Comment: 4 pages, proceedings of ECRYS-2002

On doping polar dielectrics, such as the cuprates or liquid ammonia, the long range polarization leads to the formation of bound states (polarons or solvated electrons). However, the exact role of such entities in the metal-insulator transition (MIT) still remains unclear. We suggest that the driving mechanism of the MIT is a polarization catastrophe that occurs due to their unscreened Coulomb interaction. This phenomenon is associated to a negative static dielectric constant, which could be the origin of both the superconducting transition in the cuprates -- where the doping ions are frozen in the lattice structure -- and the phase separation observed in liquid metal-ammonia solutions -- where the counter-ions are mobile., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of ECRYS-2002, to be published in Journal de Physique IV

We consider a three dimensional Wigner crystal of electrons lying in a host ionic dielectric. Owing to their interaction with the lattice polarization, each localized electron forms a polaron. We study the collective excitations of such a polaronic Wigner crystal at zero temperature, taking into account the quantum fluctuations of the polarization within the Feynman harmonic approximation. We show that, contrary to the ordinary electron crystal, the system undergoes a polarization catastrophe when the density is increased. An optical signature of this instability is derived, whose trend agrees with the experiments carried out in Nd-based cuprates.

The low temperature dependence of the spin and charge susceptibilities of an anisotropic electron system in two dimensions is analyzed. It is shown that the presence of inflection points at the Fermi surface leads, generically, to a $ T \log T $ dependence, and a more singular behavior, $\chi \sim T ^{3/4} \log T$, is also possible. Applications to quasi two-dimensional materials are discussed., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, revtex 4 style

The energy radiated by moving cracks in a discrete background is analyzed. The energy flow through a given surface is expressed in terms of a generalized Poynting vector. The velocity of the crack is determined by the radiation by the crack tip. The radiation becomes more isotropic as the crack velocity approaches the instability threshold., Comment: 7 pages, embedded figures

We propose an interpretation for the hump observed in the optical conductivity at or below a few hundreds of cm$^{-1}$, in overdoped cuprates like the electron-doped Nd_{2-x}Ce_xCuO_{4-y} at x\gtrsim 0.15 and the hole-doped Bi_2Sr_2CuO_6 and La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4. This interpretation is based on the direct excitation of charge collective modes, which become nearly critical in the proximity to a charge-ordering instability. The nearly critical character of these excitations entails a peculiar temperature dependence and a pseudo-scaling form of the lineshapes, which are in agreement with the experimental data., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures