Exact solution of a quantum electron-phonon system for a two-site periodic cluster

The ground state of a one-dimensional electron-phonon system is studied by means of a small-crystal approach: an exact solution of a two-site cluster with two electrons and periodic boundary conditions. A single electron band is considered in the tight-binding approximation, together with two-electron interactions between electrons in the same site (Hubbard model); the electrons are coupled to longitudinal-acoustic phonons through a bilinear interaction. The problem is isomorphic with that of the homopolar diatomic molecule with a vibronic degree of freedom and coupling between the electronic and vibronic modes. In the adiabatic (large-ionic-mass, small-vibrational-frequency) limit there is an analytical solution which indicates that the transition between the nondistorted (weak-coupling) and the distorted (strong-coupling) phases can be either continuous or discontinuous, depending on whether the value of electron-electron interaction is smaller or larger than a critical value. In the extremely-high-frequency limit (ionic mass M{→}0) it is also possible to find an analytical solution (for M=0) that shows that the system remains undistorted for any value of the electron-phonon coupling and the electron-electron interaction. In the intermediate case (finite, nonvanishing M), numerical solutions exhibit a continuous transition from the nondistorted to the distorted phase.