On the binding of polarons in a mean-field quantum crystal
ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations, Volume 19 (2013) no. 3, pp. 629-656.

We consider a multi-polaron model obtained by coupling the many-body Schrödinger equation for N interacting electrons with the energy functional of a mean-field crystal with a localized defect, obtaining a highly non linear many-body problem. The physical picture is that the electrons constitute a charge defect in an otherwise perfect periodic crystal. A remarkable feature of such a system is the possibility to form a bound state of electrons via their interaction with the polarizable background. We prove first that a single polaron always binds, i.e. the energy functional has a minimizer for N = 1. Then we discuss the case of multi-polarons containing N ≥ 2 electrons. We show that their existence is guaranteed when certain quantized binding inequalities of HVZ type are satisfied.

DOI: 10.1051/cocv/2012025
Classification: 35Q40, 49J40
Keywords: polaron, quantum crystal, binding inequalities, hvz theorem, choquard-pekar equation
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Lewin, Mathieu; Rougerie, Nicolas. On the binding of polarons in a mean-field quantum crystal. ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations, Volume 19 (2013) no. 3, pp. 629-656. doi : 10.1051/cocv/2012025. http://www.numdam.org/articles/10.1051/cocv/2012025/

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