Band splitting for Si(557)-Au: is it spin-charge separation?

It has been proposed that the Si(557)-Au surface exhibits spin-charge separation in a one-dimensional electron liquid. Two narrowly spaced bands are found which exhibit a well-defined splitting at the Fermi level. That is incompatible with the assignment to a spinon-holon pair in a Luttinger liquid....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 86; no. 20; p. 4632
Main Authors Losio, R, Altmann, K N, Kirakosian, A, Lin, J L, Petrovykh, D Y, Himpsel, F J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 14.05.2001
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Summary:It has been proposed that the Si(557)-Au surface exhibits spin-charge separation in a one-dimensional electron liquid. Two narrowly spaced bands are found which exhibit a well-defined splitting at the Fermi level. That is incompatible with the assignment to a spinon-holon pair in a Luttinger liquid. Instead, we propose that the two bands are associated with two nearly degenerate atomic chains, or a chain of step atoms with two broken bonds. Such an assignment explains why the surface is metallic despite an even number of electrons per unit cell.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4632