The dynamics of tunneling centers (TC's) in metallic systems is studie
d using the technique of bosonization. The interaction of the TC with
the conduction electrons of the metal involves two processes, namely,
the screening of the TC by electrons and the so-called electron-assist
ed tunneling. The presence of the latter process leads to a different
form of the renormalized tunneling frequency of the TC, and the tunnel
ing motion is damped with a temperature dependent relaxation rate. As
the temperature is lowered, the relaxation rate per temperature shows
a steep rise as opposed to that in the absence of electron-assisted pr
ocess. It is expected that this behavior should be observed at very lo
w temperatures in a careful experiment. The present work thus tries to
go beyond the existing work on the dynamics of a two-level system in
metals, by treating the electron-assisted process.