Real-time decay of a highly excited charge carrier in the one-dimensional Holstein model

Nonequilibrium dynamics of interacting quantum many-body physics has recently attracted great attention. The authors address here the nonequilibrium dynamics of a single electron interacting through a Holstein-like coupling with dispersionless phonons on a one dimensional lattice. Using diagonalization in a limited functional space, they identify two different regimes: (1) the relaxation regime where, during a characteristic time scale, a net energy is transferred between the electronic and the phononic subsystem; and (2) the stationary regime, characterized by zero energy transfer and by persisting coherent oscillations in the dynamics of observables.