Energy and critical ionic-bond parameter of a 3D large-radius bipolaron

A theory of a strong-coupling large-radius bipolaron has been developed. The possibility of the formation of 3D bipolarons in high-temperature superconductors is discussed. For the bipolaron energy, the lowest variational estimate has been obtained at α > 8, where α is the electron-phonon coupling constant. The critical ionic-bond parameter η _c = ɛ_∞/ɛ₀, where ɛ_∞ and ɛ₀ are the high-frequency and static dielectric constants, has been found to be η _c = 0.2496.