Optical absorption edge in one-dimensional conductors

The frequency-dependent conductivity is studied for both the one-dimensional Hubbard model and a model of spinless fermions, using a selection rule, the Bethe ansatz energy eigenstates, and conformal invariance. For densities where the system is metallic the absorption spectrum has two contributions, a Drude peak at \omega = 0 separated by a pseudo-gap from a broad absorption band whose lower edge is characterized by a non-classical critical exponent. Our findings are expected to shed new light on the ``far infrared puzzle'' of metallic organic chain compounds.