We calculate the low-temperature properties of an acoustic polaron in three dimensions in thermal equilibrium at a given temperature using a specialized path-integral Monte Carlo method. In particular we find numerical evidence that the chosen Hamiltonian for the acoustic polaron describes a phase transition from a localized state to an unlocalized state for the electron as the phonon-electron coupling constant decreases. The phase transition manifests itself with a jump discontinuity in the potential energy as a function of the coupling constant. In the weak coupling regime the electron is in an extended state whereas in the strong coupling regime it is found in a self-trapped state.

• Received 27 April 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.144304