Polaron on a one-dimensional lattice: II. A moving polaron

Abstract

Continuum-limit equations for moving polarons on a one-dimensional lattice with a harmonic interaction potential between adjacent particles and a simple nonlinear potential with a cubic nonlinearity are derived for the first time; for some particular cases, their solutions are obtained. For a harmonic lattice in the continuum limit, a system of integrable nonlinear partial differential equations is derived. A one-soliton solution to this system describes a polaron moving with a constant velocity. The speed of this polaron is uniquely related to its amplitude, with its values ranging from zero to the speed of sound. For a nonlinear lattice, the resulting system of differential equations is integrable at a certain ratio of the problem parameters. The one-soliton solution to this system, as in the harmonic case, describes a polaron moving with a constant velocity. At arbitrary values of the lattice parameters, the nonlinear lattice was studied by numerical methods. It turned out that, in the entire range of parameters, the nonlinear lattice gives rise to moving polarons, with the speed of the polaron being determined by the competition between the electron-photon interaction parameter α and the nonlinearity parameter β. At α ≫ β, the behavior of the polaron is very close to the dynamics on the harmonic lattice. In the opposite case, the dynamic nonlinearity begins to dominate, giving rise to dynamics inherent to solitons, so that speed of the polaron can exceed the speed of sound. In a certain range of α and β, numerical calculations revealed a family of polaron-type stable solutions, the envelope of which can have several peaks. The numerical and exact analytical solutions are in very good agreement for a sufficiently large radius of the polaron, when the system of equations obtained in the continuum approximation has a solution.