We investigate the interplay between the formation of a lattice and magnetic polaron in the case of a single hole in the antiferromagnetic background. We present an exact analytical solution of the Holstein $t-J$ model in infinite dimensions. The ground-state energy, electron-lattice correlation function, spin bag dimension as well as spectral properties are calculated. The magnetic and hole-lattice correlations sustain each other, i.e., the presence of antiferromagnetic correlations favors the formation of the lattice polaron at lower values of the electron-phonon coupling while the polaronic effect contributes to reduce the number of spin defects in the antiferromagnetic background. The crossover towards a spin-lattice small polaron region of the phase diagram becomes a discontinuous transition in the adiabatic limit.

• Received 14 January 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.66.165102