  As a generic model describing quasi-one-dimensional Mott and Peierls
insulators, we investigate the Holstein-Hubbard model for half-filled bands
using numerical techniques. Combining Lanczos diagonalization with Chebyshev
moment expansion we calculate exactly the photoemission and inverse
photoemission spectra and use these to establish the phase diagram of the
model. While polaronic features emerge only at strong electron-phonon
couplings, pronounced phonon signatures, such as multi-quanta band states, can
be found in the Mott insulating regime as well. In order to corroborate the
Mott to Peierls transition scenario, we determine the spin and charge
excitation gaps by a finite-size scaling analysis based on density-matrix
renormalization group calculations.
