Fate of classical solitons in one-dimensional quantum systems

We study one-dimensional quantum systems near the classical limit described by the Korteweg--de Vries (KdV) equation. The excitations near this limit are the well-known solitons and phonons. The classical description breaks down at long wavelengths, where quantum effects become dominant. Focusing on the spectra of the elementary excitations, we describe analytically the entire classical-to-quantum crossover. We show that the ultimate quantum fate of the classical KdV excitations is to become fermionic particles and holes. We discuss in detail two exactly solvable models exhibiting such crossover, namely the Lieb-Liniger model of bosons with weak contact repulsion and the quantum Toda model. We argue that the results obtained for these models are universally applicable to all quantum one-dimensional systems with a well-defined classical limit described by the KdV equation.