Quantum breathing of an impurity in a one-dimensional bath of interacting bosons

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jan 4;110(1):015302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.015302. Epub 2013 Jan 3.

Abstract

By means of the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization-group (TDMRG) method we are able to follow the real-time dynamics of a single impurity embedded in a one-dimensional bath of interacting bosons. We focus on the impurity breathing mode, which is found to be well described by a single oscillation frequency and a damping rate. If the impurity is very weakly coupled to the bath, a Luttinger-liquid description is valid and the impurity suffers an Abraham-Lorentz radiation-reaction friction. For a large portion of the explored parameter space, the TDMRG results fall well beyond the Luttinger-liquid paradigm.