Self-localized states for electron transfer in nonlocal continuum deformable media

•Nonlocality overcomes nonlinearity at a threshold value to cease the existence of coherent solutions.•Variational and series expansion solutions predict the formation of coherent structures in nonlocal deformable media.•Full numerical solutions confirm the persistence of localized solutions.

We consider the problem of electron transport in a deformable continuum medium subjected to an external harmonic substrate potential. We then consider the quasi-stationary state of the full problem to find a Gross–Pitaevskii type equation with a nonlocal external potential, which is solved by variational and numerical means (considered as the exact solution) to find the parameter conditions for the existence of self-localized solutions. The variational approach predicts a threshold on the on-site or nonlocality parameter where localized solutions cease to exist from the Non-Linear Schrödinger soliton limit. A numerical continuation of stationary state solutions in the corresponding discrete system is used to confirm the prediction of the turning value in the on-site term. We finally study the full stationary state and make use of an approximation, proposed by Briedis et al. [17], for the nonlocal term, corresponding to strong nonlocalities, to find analytic expressions for self-localized states in terms of the series solutions of a nonlinear modified Bessel equation.