Stepwise quantum decay of self-localized solitons

Abstract

The two-phonon decay of self-localized soliton in a one-dimensional monatomic anharmonic lattice caused by cubic anharmonicity is considered. It is shown that the decay takes place with emission of phonon bursts. The average rate of emission of phonons is of the order of vibrational quantum per vibrational period. Characteristic time of the relaxation is determined by the quantum anharmonicity parameter; this time may vary from a few (quantum lattices, large anharmonicity) to thousands (ordinary lattices, small anharmonicity) of vibrational periods.