Phonon effects on spin-charge separation in one dimension are investigated through the calculation of one-electron spectral functions in terms of the recently developed cluster perturbation theory together with an optimized phonon approach. It is found that the retardation effect due to the finiteness of phonon frequency suppresses the spin-charge separation and eventually makes it invisible in the spectral function. By comparing our results with experimental data of TTF-TCNQ, it is observed that the electron-phonon interaction must be taken into account when interpreting the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data.

• Received 10 October 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.156402