Frustration, fractional charge, and soliton mobilities: The effect of interchain coupling on solitons in charge-density waves

Abstract

The effect of interchain coupling on the charge and mobilities of solitons in systems with commensurate charge-density-wave ground states is considered. It is shown that although interchain forces cause the charge density associated with the soliton to spread over several chains, the total charge of the soliton is unchanged to the accuracy of the present calculations. Interchain coupling also tends to confine the solitons in integrally charged multiplets. However, frustration or various types of disorder, notably tangling, are shown to cause the confinement energy to vanish, thus leading to mobile solitons.