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Journal of Physics Condensed Matter

An extensive calculation of the properties of a one-dimensional polaron

Chen Qinghu, Wang Kelin, Wan Shaolong

Published Aug 15, 1994• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A refined approach where the wave function is gradually improved is developed in the one-dimensional (1D) large-Frohlich-polaron problem. The results for the ground-state energy, the effective mass, and the average number of virtual phonons are obtained for a wide range of the coupling constant It, and are in agreement with those of the Feynman path-integral formalism. In addition, in the weak-coupling limit, the expansions of these observables in powers of the coupling constant are exactly calculated up to the alpha 3 -term. They are E=- alpha -0.06066 alpha 2 -0.00844 alpha 3 , m*=1+0.5 alpha +0.19194 alpha 2 +0.06912 alpha 3 , and N=0.5 alpha +0.12132 alpha 2 +0.029540 alpha 3 , which agree with the known results of the fourth-order perturbation theory.

DOI
10.1088/0953-8984/6/33/008

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Polaron ground-state energy inddimensions

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The polaron path integral introduced by Feynman is generalized to the case of an electron moving in d space dimensions. A scheme of systematic calculations of the obtained path integral is developed to estimate the ground-state energy of the polaron in the same way for different values of the electron-phonon coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha}. The leading-order term in this approach yields an upper bound to the polaron self-energy and improves Feynman's variational estimates for d=2 and d=3. A scaling relation between polaron self-energies for different space dimensions is obtained for this term. The next correction to this estimation is calculated by numerical integration for d=2 and d=3.

Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Aug 1, 1994•11 citations
A refined approach where the wave function is gradually improved is developed in the one-dimensional (1D) large-Frohlich-polaron problem. The results for the ground-state energy, the effective mass, and the average number of virtual phonons are obtained for a wide range of the coupling constant It, and are in agreement with those of the Feynman path-integral formalism. In addition, in the weak-coupling limit, the expansions of these observables in powers of the coupling constant are exactly calculated up to the alpha 3 -term. They are E=- alpha -0.06066 alpha 2 -0.00844 alpha 3 , m*=1+0.5 alpha +0.19194 alpha 2 +0.06912 alpha 3 , and N=0.5 alpha +0.12132 alpha 2 +0.029540 alpha 3 , which agree with the known results of the fourth-order perturbation theory.
The Fr\"ohlich polaron confined to move in one space dimension and interacting with a three-dimensional lattice is studied. We calculate exact and approximate results for the ground-state energy and the effective mass. The following exact results were obtained. In (a) the weak-coupling limit for the energy E=-\ensuremath{\alpha}'-[(3/2 \ensuremath{\surd}2 )-1]\ensuremath{\alpha}' 2^{2}2, the mass m∗{\mathit{m}}^{\mathrm{*}}m∗/mb{\mathit{m}}_{\mathit{b}}mb​=1/2\ensuremath{\alpha}'+[(5/2 \ensuremath{\surd}2 )-1]/4, and the average number of virtual phonons N=1/2\ensuremath{\alpha}'+[(3/ \ensuremath{\surd}2 )-2]\ensuremath{\alpha}' 2^{2}2, and in (b) the strong-coupling limit E=-0.333 088\ensuremath{\alpha}' 2^{2}2,m∗{\mathit{m}}^{\mathrm{*}}m∗/mb{\mathit{m}}_{\mathit{b}}mb​=2.1254\ensuremath{\alpha}' 4^{4}4, and N=0.666 176\ensuremath{\alpha}' 2^{2}2. Here, \ensuremath{\alpha}' is the normalized electron-phonon coupling constant, which was chosen such that E=-\ensuremath{\alpha}' within second-order perturbation theory.
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.
We calculate the Rayleigh-Schrodinger perturbation series for the ground-state energy and the effective mass of the three-dimensional Frohlich polaron through fourth order in the coupling constant alpha. The third- and fourth-order coefficients of the effective mass are new. Because the Frohlich interaction is a form-bounded perturbation of an isolated nondegenerate ground state at fixed total momentum, the series has a nonzero radius of convergence, and we analyze it with the ratio and Pade methods appropriate to convergent series. The coefficients are strikingly regular and are described by a simple power-law singularity at alpha near 8.5 with an exponent near 1.4. The couplings at which successive truncations of the inverse mass vanish, the first of which is the textbook breakdown value alpha = 6, are slowly converging estimates of this radius. Pade approximants built from the weak-coupling coefficients alone agree with diagrammatic Monte Carlo results for the mass to better than one percent for alpha up to 5. Exact results on the analyticity of the ground state and on the strong-coupling asymptotics imply that the coefficients cannot keep a constant sign, although all known coefficients do, so that the apparent singularity must be a complex-conjugate pair close to the positive real axis. It marks the crossover to strong coupling: the weak-coupling series locates this crossover accurately but cannot be continued through it.
Direct evaluation of Feynman's functional integral for the polaron maps it into a standard type of many-body theory. The perturbation expansion is shown to be well controlled and does not require any renormalization. This perturbation expansion has the pleasing feature that nthn\mathrm{th}nth-order terms in the polaron coupling constant are obtained from nthn\mathrm{th}nth-order perturbation theory, whereas the traditional perturbation formulation in terms of creation and annihilation operators requires a 2nth2n\mathrm{th}2nth-order perturbation calculation to generate the same results. In contrast to previous beliefs, the method is shown to enable the calculation of the polaron effective mass and relaxation time directly from the functional-integral expression. The ground-state energy is computed to second order in the polaron coupling constant to illustrate the use of the method and to establish agreement with previous perturbation treatments. In addition, we provide the first perturbation calculation of the polaron effective mass through second order in the coupling constant. Pad\'e approximants are shown to provide a vehicle for analytically extending the perturbation results into the region of intermediate and strong couplings, and the procedure yields reasonable agreement with variational calculations for values of the polaron coupling constant up to about $\ensuremath{\alpha}=10$. In addition, conditions are derived under which the original polaron action, used in the functional integral, reduces to some of the best variational trial actions utilized in the literature.
The properties of two- and three-dimensional polarons are investigated with the use of extended coherent states. In the weak-coupling limit, the obtained expansions for the ground-state energy and effective mass to the second order in the coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha} are the same as the previous exact ones. Moreover, in the intermediate-coupling regime, the numerical results for the ground-state energy and effective mass agree with the results by the Feynman path-integral method, and perhaps closer to the exact results than the Feynman ones. It is suggested that the present approach should be an effective one in polaron physics. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
The polaron path integral introduced by Feynman is generalized to the case of an electron moving in d space dimensions. A scheme of systematic calculations of the obtained path integral is developed to estimate the ground-state energy of the polaron in the same way for different values of the electron-phonon coupling constant \ensuremath{\alpha}. The leading-order term in this approach yields an upper bound to the polaron self-energy and improves Feynman's variational estimates for d=2 and d=3. A scaling relation between polaron self-energies for different space dimensions is obtained for this term. The next correction to this estimation is calculated by numerical integration for d=2 and d=3.