Exact weak-coupling radius of the Holstein polaron in one, two, and three dimensions

Abstract

We apply weak-coupling perturbation theory to the Holstein molecular crystal model in order to compute an electron-phonon correlation function characterizing the shape and size of the polaron lattice distortion in one, two, and three dimensions. This correlation function is computed exactly to leading order in the electron-phonon coupling constant, permitting a complete description of correlations in any dimension for both isotropic and arbitrarily anisotropic cases. Using this exact result, the width of the polaron is characterized along arbitrary directions. The width of the polaron thus determined disagrees in every dimension with some well-known characterizations of polarons, signalling in particular the breakdown of the adiabatic approximation and the characterizations of self-trapping associated with it.