We investigate the effect of electronic correlations on the coupling of electrons to Holstein phonons in the one-band Hubbard model. We calculate the static electron-phonon vertex within the linear response of Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave bosons in the paramagnetic saddle-point approximation. Within this approach the on-site Coulomb interaction $U$ strongly suppresses the coupling to Holstein phonons at low temperatures. Moreover, the vertex function does not show particularly strong forward scattering. Going to larger temperatures $kT\sim t$ we find that after an initial decrease with $U$, the electron-phonon coupling starts to increase with $U$, confirming a recent result of Cerruti, Cappelluti, and Pietronero. We show that this behavior is related to an unusual reentrant behavior from a phase separated to a paramagnetic state upon decreasing the temperature.

• Received 17 March 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.70.094510