Lattice dynamical effects on the Peierls transition in one-dimensional metals and spin chains

The interplay of charge, spin and lattice degrees of freedom is studied for quasi-one-dimensional electron and spin systems coupled to quantum phonons. Special emphasis is put on the influence of the lattice dynamics on the Peierls transition. Using exact diagonalization techniques the ground-state and spectral properties of the Holstein model of spinless fermions and of a frustrated Heisenberg model with magneto-elastic coupling are analyzed on finite chains. In the non-adiabatic regime a (T = 0) quantum phase transition from a gapless Luttinger-liquid/spin-fluid state to a gapped dimerized phase occurs at a nonzero critical value of the electron/spin-phonon interaction. To study the nature of the spin-Peierls transition at finite temperatures for the infinite system, an alternative Green’s function approach is applied to the magnetostrictive XY model. With increasing phonon frequency the structure factor shows a remarkable crossover from soft-mode to central-peak behaviour. The results are discussed in relation to recent experiments on CuGeO3.