UC Santa Barbara

We carry out density-matrix-renormalization group (DMRG) calculations for the problem of one doped hole in a two-leg t-J ladder. Recent studies have concluded that exotic "Mott" physics-arising from the projection onto the space of no double-occupied sites-is manifest in this model system, leading to charge localization and a new mechanism for charge modulation. In contrast, we show that there is no localization and that the charge-density modulation arises when the minimum in the quasiparticle dispersion moves away from π. Although singular changes in the quasiparticle dispersion do occur as a function of model parameters, all of the DMRG results can be qualitatively understood from a noninteracting "band-structure" perspective.