Spectral properties of the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model

We present a study of the one dimensional Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model Hamiltonian by a diagrammatic perturbative method in the weak electron–phonon (e–ph) coupling regime. Exact computation of both the charge carrier effective mass and the electron spectral function shows that electrons are good quasiparticles in the adiabatic and antiadiabatic limits but novel features emerge in the intermediate regime, where the phonons and the electrons compare on the energy scale. Together with a sizeable mass enhancement we observe, in the latter regime, a spread of the spectral weight (among several transition peaks) associated with an increased relevance of multiphonons contributions at larger e–ph couplings. Accordingly electrons cease to be the good quasiparticles and an onset of polaron formation is favoured.