The interaction of electrons and excitons with phonons in solids: Results from model problems and ab initio calculations.

In this talk I will discuss several perspectives on the modeling of the interactions between charge carriers and phonons in solids. In the first part of the talk I will present a novel mhechanism for electron-phonon interactions in solids that is shown by exact quantum Monte Carlo calculations to lead to relatively high superconducting transition temperatures in the dilute carrier limit. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss the ab initio modeling of polarons and excitonic polarons in solids.