Solitons in the one-dimensional Peierls-Hubbard model

A variational method is used to study solitons in the framework of the one-dimensional Peierls-Hubbard model. Both the structure of a neutral soliton and the soliton-induced optical transitions are calculated. The comparison of the results with exact numerical calculations and experimentals data on trans-polyacetylene confirm not only the validity of the variational approach, but also the necessity of including correlation effects explicity.