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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Variational calculation of two-dimensional-polaron energy levels in a magnetic field

D. Ninno, Giuseppe Iadonisi

Published May 15, 1989• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Energy levels of two-dimensional Fr\"ohlich polarons in a magnetic field are calculated variationally by use of a generalization of the Lee-Low-Pines ansatz for the variational wave function allowing the phonon distribution function to depend on the electronic coordinates. It is shown that this choice leads to the correct interpolation between the weak- and strong-field limits. Comparing our ground-state energies with those obtained within second-order perturbation theory and the path-integral method, we argue that neither of these methods gives a satisfactory description of the dynamics of the electron-phonon interaction under the influence of an external field.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.39.10963

Related papers

Exact and approximate results for the ground-state energy of a Fröhlich polaron in two dimensions

Xiaoguang Wu, François Maria Peeters, J. T. Devreese

The ground-state energy of a two-dimensional (2D) Fr\"ohlich polaron is calculated to second order in the coupling constant (\ensuremath{\alpha}) and gives E/\ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}$=-(\ensuremath{\pi}/2)\ensuremath{\alpha}-0.063 97${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{2}$ with \ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}$ the surface optical-phonon energy. In the strong-coupling limit the adiabatic approximation is used and E/\ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}$=-0.4047${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{2}$ is found to leading order in \ensuremath{\alpha}. The Feynman path-integral approximation, the Gaussian approximation, and the modified Lee-Low-Pines unitary transformation approximation to the polaron ground-state energy all satisfy the scaling relation ${E}_{2\mathrm{D}}$(\ensuremath{\alpha})=(2/3)${E}_{3\mathrm{D}}$(( 3\ensuremath{\pi}/4)\ensuremath{\alpha}), where ${E}_{2\mathrm{D}}$ (${E}_{3\mathrm{D}}$) is the ground-state energy of the 2D (3D) polaron.

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Variational calculations of bipolaron binding energies

F. Bassani, Mario Geddo, Giuseppe Iadonisi +1 more

The energies of bipolaron states in three- and two-dimensional systems are calculated variationally, treating the electron-phonon interaction in the Fr\"ohlich approximation, and separating the relative motion from the center-of-mass motion. The bipolaron is bound if the electron-phonon coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha} is larger than 6 in three dimensions and 2 in two dimensions, provided the ratio \ensuremath{\eta}=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\infty}}}$/${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}_{0}$ is smaller than a critical value which depends on \ensuremath{\alpha}. The theory yields the free-polaron energies as given in the Lee, Low, and Pines approximation for arbitrary values of the electron-phonon coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha}. For \ensuremath{\alpha} larger than \ensuremath{\sim}10 and \ensuremath{\sim}4 in the three- and two-dimensional cases, respectively, the lowest free-polaron self-energies are obtained in the strong-coupling approach; it is shown that a trial harmonic envelope wave function, localized both in the center-of-mass and relative coordinates, with a coherent phonon state gives a bound localized bipolaron state of lower energy. It is interesting for application to high-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ superconductivity that the bipolaron bounds more easily in two dimensions than in three, and that the mean value of the pair radius is a few angstroms. Furthermore, bipolaron states obtained when the linear total momentum is conserved have intrinsically high mobility, which is also an important condition to make the bipolaron mechanism consistent with high-temperature superconductivity.

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Orbital effects of strong magnetic field on a two-dimensional Holstein polaron

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We investigate the orbital effects of a strong external magnetic field on the ground-state properties of a two-dimensional (2D) Holstein polaron, employing variational approaches based on exact diagonalization. From the ground-state energy and the wave function, we calculate the electron-phonon correlation function, the average phonon number, and the Drude weight and investigate the evolution of a 2D Holstein polaron as a function of the magnetic flux. Although the external magnetic field affects the polaron throughout the parameter regime, we show that the magnetic field has a stronger effect on a loosely bound (spatially extended) polaron. We also find that the magnetic field can be used as a tuning parameter, particularly for a weakly coupled polaron, to reduce the spatial extent of a large polaron.

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Free Energy of a Polaron in a Strong Magnetic Field

Motohiko Saitoh

New results for the free energy of a polaron in a strong magnetic field are presented. The method used here is the extended version of Feynman's pathintegral formalism in which the most general quadratic form containing an infinite number of variational parameters is employed to simulate the variational trial action. A set of nonlinear integral equations is established to determine the upper bound for the free energy in the entire range of electron-phonon coupling constants, temperatures and magnetic fields. Analytical solutions are provided for some limiting cases of interest, and are compared critically with existing calculations of the ground-state energy at zero temperature. The free energy thus obtained is exact to the lowest order in the coupling constant and provides the good interpolation up to the strong coupling regime.

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan•Jul 15, 1981•27 citations

Energy and mass of 3D and 2D polarons in the overall range of the electron-phonon coupling strength

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The ground-state characterization of the polaron problem is retrieved within the framework of a variational scheme proposed previously by Devreese et al for the bound polaron. The formulation is based on the standard canonical transformation of the strong coupling ansatz and consists of a variationally determined perturbative extension serving for the theory to interpolate in the overall range of the coupling constant. Specializing our considerations to the bulk and strict two-dimensional polaron models we see that the theory yields significantly improved energy upper bounds in the strong coupling regime and, moreover, extrapolates itself successfully towards the well-established weak coupling limits for all polaron quantities of general interest.

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A generalized functional approach to the polaron problem

Sergey Gorshkov, Victor Dmitrievich Lakhno, K. Rodriges +1 more

It is well known that two qualitatively different pictures arise in the description of the motion of an electron in an ionic crystal. In the first case, when the electron interacts weakly with the ionic lattice of the crystal, its motion is the same as the motion of a free band electron whose energy is shifted downward with respect to the bottom of the conduction band, and the effective mass is replaced by the renormalized mass (weak-coupling polaron). In the other limiting case, when the electron interacts strongly with the ionic crystal, an entire series of different self-consistent states of the electron and lattice, each of which has its own effective mass and radius (strong-coupling polaron), arises. Although the motion of an electron in an ionic crystal is described in both limiting cases with the help of the Pekar-Frohlich Hamiltonian, each case requires its own special methods of analysis. Thus, for example, in the strong-coupling theory a special form of adiabatic perturbation theory has been developed in which the trans-lational degeneracy is removed before the perturbation expansion is made. It has been possible to relate both descriptions within the framework of Feynman's varia-tional approach, in which a smooth upper bound was obtained for the energy of the ground state of the polaron for all values of the electron-phonon coupling constant a (see Fig. 1). We call attention in this connection to Ref. 6, where the thermodynamic properties are calculated with the help of a special method for performing the calculations and for finding averages of T-products. The approach developed there is more convenient for performing specific calculations than is the use of path integrals. It seems to us that it has definite advantages in the construction of general proofs concerning the choice of the approximating Hamiltonians (this is illustrated in Ref. 6 for the example of the linear Bogolyubov model), in the investigation of the characteristics of the behavior of a polaron in external fields, etc.

Soviet physics. Doklady•Oct 1, 1984•0 citations
Energy levels of two-dimensional Fr"ohlich polarons in a magnetic field are calculated variationally by use of a generalization of the Lee-Low-Pines ansatz for the variational wave function allowing the phonon distribution function to depend on the electronic coordinates. It is shown that this choice leads to the correct interpolation between the weak- and strong-field limits. Comparing our ground-state energies with those obtained within second-order perturbation theory and the path-integral method, we argue that neither of these methods gives a satisfactory description of the dynamics of the electron-phonon interaction under the influence of an external field.
The ground-state energy of a two-dimensional (2D) Fr\"ohlich polaron is calculated to second order in the coupling constant (\ensuremath{\alpha}) and gives E/\ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}$=-(\ensuremath{\pi}/2)\ensuremath{\alpha}-0.063 97${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{2}$ with \ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}$ the surface optical-phonon energy. In the strong-coupling limit the adiabatic approximation is used and E/\ensuremath{\Elzxh}${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}$=-0.4047${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{2}$ is found to leading order in \ensuremath{\alpha}. The Feynman path-integral approximation, the Gaussian approximation, and the modified Lee-Low-Pines unitary transformation approximation to the polaron ground-state energy all satisfy the scaling relation E2D{E}_{2\mathrm{D}}E2D​(\ensuremath{\alpha})=(2/3)E3D{E}_{3\mathrm{D}}E3D​(( 3\ensuremath{\pi}/4)\ensuremath{\alpha}), where E2D{E}_{2\mathrm{D}}E2D​ (E3D{E}_{3\mathrm{D}}E3D​) is the ground-state energy of the 2D (3D) polaron.
The energies of bipolaron states in three- and two-dimensional systems are calculated variationally, treating the electron-phonon interaction in the Fr\"ohlich approximation, and separating the relative motion from the center-of-mass motion. The bipolaron is bound if the electron-phonon coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha} is larger than 6 in three dimensions and 2 in two dimensions, provided the ratio \ensuremath{\eta}=${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\infty}}}$/${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\epsilon}}}_{0}$ is smaller than a critical value which depends on \ensuremath{\alpha}. The theory yields the free-polaron energies as given in the Lee, Low, and Pines approximation for arbitrary values of the electron-phonon coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha}. For \ensuremath{\alpha} larger than \ensuremath{\sim}10 and \ensuremath{\sim}4 in the three- and two-dimensional cases, respectively, the lowest free-polaron self-energies are obtained in the strong-coupling approach; it is shown that a trial harmonic envelope wave function, localized both in the center-of-mass and relative coordinates, with a coherent phonon state gives a bound localized bipolaron state of lower energy. It is interesting for application to high-Tc{\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}Tc​ superconductivity that the bipolaron bounds more easily in two dimensions than in three, and that the mean value of the pair radius is a few angstroms. Furthermore, bipolaron states obtained when the linear total momentum is conserved have intrinsically high mobility, which is also an important condition to make the bipolaron mechanism consistent with high-temperature superconductivity.
We investigate the orbital effects of a strong external magnetic field on the ground-state properties of a two-dimensional (2D) Holstein polaron, employing variational approaches based on exact diagonalization. From the ground-state energy and the wave function, we calculate the electron-phonon correlation function, the average phonon number, and the Drude weight and investigate the evolution of a 2D Holstein polaron as a function of the magnetic flux. Although the external magnetic field affects the polaron throughout the parameter regime, we show that the magnetic field has a stronger effect on a loosely bound (spatially extended) polaron. We also find that the magnetic field can be used as a tuning parameter, particularly for a weakly coupled polaron, to reduce the spatial extent of a large polaron.
New results for the free energy of a polaron in a strong magnetic field are presented. The method used here is the extended version of Feynman's pathintegral formalism in which the most general quadratic form containing an infinite number of variational parameters is employed to simulate the variational trial action. A set of nonlinear integral equations is established to determine the upper bound for the free energy in the entire range of electron-phonon coupling constants, temperatures and magnetic fields. Analytical solutions are provided for some limiting cases of interest, and are compared critically with existing calculations of the ground-state energy at zero temperature. The free energy thus obtained is exact to the lowest order in the coupling constant and provides the good interpolation up to the strong coupling regime.
The ground-state characterization of the polaron problem is retrieved within the framework of a variational scheme proposed previously by Devreese et al for the bound polaron. The formulation is based on the standard canonical transformation of the strong coupling ansatz and consists of a variationally determined perturbative extension serving for the theory to interpolate in the overall range of the coupling constant. Specializing our considerations to the bulk and strict two-dimensional polaron models we see that the theory yields significantly improved energy upper bounds in the strong coupling regime and, moreover, extrapolates itself successfully towards the well-established weak coupling limits for all polaron quantities of general interest.
It is well known that two qualitatively different pictures arise in the description of the motion of an electron in an ionic crystal. In the first case, when the electron interacts weakly with the ionic lattice of the crystal, its motion is the same as the motion of a free band electron whose energy is shifted downward with respect to the bottom of the conduction band, and the effective mass is replaced by the renormalized mass (weak-coupling polaron). In the other limiting case, when the electron interacts strongly with the ionic crystal, an entire series of different self-consistent states of the electron and lattice, each of which has its own effective mass and radius (strong-coupling polaron), arises. Although the motion of an electron in an ionic crystal is described in both limiting cases with the help of the Pekar-Frohlich Hamiltonian, each case requires its own special methods of analysis. Thus, for example, in the strong-coupling theory a special form of adiabatic perturbation theory has been developed in which the trans-lational degeneracy is removed before the perturbation expansion is made. It has been possible to relate both descriptions within the framework of Feynman's varia-tional approach, in which a smooth upper bound was obtained for the energy of the ground state of the polaron for all values of the electron-phonon coupling constant a (see Fig. 1). We call attention in this connection to Ref. 6, where the thermodynamic properties are calculated with the help of a special method for performing the calculations and for finding averages of T-products. The approach developed there is more convenient for performing specific calculations than is the use of path integrals. It seems to us that it has definite advantages in the construction of general proofs concerning the choice of the approximating Hamiltonians (this is illustrated in Ref. 6 for the example of the linear Bogolyubov model), in the investigation of the characteristics of the behavior of a polaron in external fields, etc.