S-Matrix formalism for particles interacting with phonon fields: Coherent state representation

We apply the quasiparticle picture to the interaction between a fermion and a boson field using a coherent states representation of theS matrix. Its matrix elements between single particle states are explicitly evaluated in terms of a path integral. The method is extended to include dispersion in the excitation spectrum and applied to the case of a metal with electron-hole symmetry. Its relation with perturbation theory is discussed and the second order perturbative result for polarons in insulators is recovered.