The energy of polarons and bipolarons in relation to high Tc superconductivity

In this thesis we investigate the possibility of the formation of a bipo- laron out of two polarons in a polarizable lattice. The formation of a bipolaron in such a lattice is thought to be a possible explanation for high Tc superconductivity. Based on classical electrostatics the energy of two mutually interacting polarizable particles is generalized to N interacting particles. This result has been used to device of a numerical simulation for the energy of a uniform square lattice and a CuO2 lattice. Through these calculations it is found that only for a highly unlikely set of mate- rial parameters (such as the polarizability of the particles) it is possible to assimilate a bipolaron without having an external force to keep it together.