WIGNER CRYSTAL IN ONE-DIMENSION

A one-dimensional gas of electrons interacting with long-range Coulomb forces [V(r) almost-equal-to 1/r] is investigated. The excitation spectrum consists of separate collective charge and spin modes. For arbitrarily weak Coulomb repulsion density correlations at wave vector 4k(F) decay extremely slowly and are best described as those of a one-dimensional Wigner crystal. Pinning of the Wigner crystal then leads to the nonlinear transport properties characteristic of charge density waves. The results allow a consistent interpretation of the plasmon and spin excitations observed in one-dimensional semiconductor structures, and suggest an interpretation of some of the observed features in terms of ''spinons.''