The effective mass problem for the Landau-Pekar equations

We provide a definition of the effective mass for the classical polaron described by the Landau-Pekar (LP) equations. It is based on a novel variational principle, minimizing the energy functional over states with given (initial) velocity. The resulting formula for the polaron's effective mass agrees with the prediction by LP (1948 J. Exp. Theor. Phys. 18 419-423).

Automated summary

We provide a definition of effective mass for the classical polaron based on a novel variational principle that minimizes the energy functional over states with given velocity. The resulting formula for the effective mass agrees with the prediction by Landau-Pekar equations.