We study the transversal dynamics of a charged stripe (quantum string) and
show that zero temperature quantum fluctuations are able to depin it from the
lattice. If the hopping amplitude t is much smaller than the string tension J,
the string is pinned by the underlying lattice. At t>>J, the string is depinned
and allowed to move freely, if we neglect the effect of impurities. By mapping
the system onto a 1D array of Josephson junctions, we show that the quantum
depinning occurs at t/J = 2 / pi^2. Besides, we exploit the relation of the
stripe Hamiltonian to the sine-Gordon theory and calculate the infrared
excitation spectrum of the quantum string for arbitrary t/J values.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
