Linear response of a one-dimensional conductor coupled to a dynamical impurity with a Fermi edge singularity

Abstract

I study the dynamical correlations that a quantum impurity induces in the Fermi sea to which it is coupled. I consider a quantum transport set-up in which the impurity can be realised in a double quantum dot. The same Hamiltonian describes tunnelling states in metallic glasses, and can be mapped onto the Ohmic spin-boson model. It exhibits a Fermi edge singularity, i.e. many fermion correlations result in an impurity decay rate with a non-trivial power law energy dependence. I show that there is a simple relation between temporal impurity correlations on the one hand, and the linear response of the Fermi sea to external perturbations on the other. This results in a power law singularity in the space and time dependence of the non-local polarisability of the Fermi sea, which can be detected in transport experiments.