Effects of distance dependence of exciton hopping on the Davydov soliton

Abstract

The Davydov model of energy transfer in molecular chains is reconsidered assuming the distance dependence of the exciton hopping term. New equations of motion for phonons and excitons are derived within the coherent state approximation. Solving these nonlinear equations result in the existence of Davydov-like solitons. In the case of a dilatational soliton, the amplitude and width is decreased as a results of the mechanism introduced here and above a critical coupling strength our equations do not allow for localized solutions. For compressional solitons, stability is increased.