Abstract
By using an effective independent-particle model for an interacting electron gas, the relaxation rate of excited electrons close enough to the Fermi surface is calculated. The theoretical description is based on a binary collision treatment, implemented by an approximate nonlinear characterization of the residual screened interactions and exact phase-shift calculations. The important constituents of a consistent attempt are discussed. The results obtained are analyzed and compared to those based on perturbative linear-screening predictions. Reductions in the lifetime of excited electrons are found. Comparisons with experimental data from different sources are made.
Highlights
One of the most important manifestations of electronelectron interaction in the conventional theory of a freeelectron gas is dielectric screening
͓exp(Ϫt/)͔ that determine the decay of distributions for particles prepared in given momentum-energy states close to the invariant Fermi surface
An interpretation of this decay as a finite lifetime implies an uncertainty in the one-particle energy
Summary
One of the most important manifestations of electronelectron interaction in the conventional theory of a freeelectron gas is dielectric screening. The dielectric function itself is an exact mathematical property of the interacting system, but can only be calculated approximately. The random phase approximationRPAis a well-known example. It is, a generalized self-consistent procedure, which may be derived[1] by making the linearized Hartree equations time dependent in the treatment of the influence of a given external fieldthe field of a moving, charged particleon the system. For a heavy impurity one can apply density functional theoryDFT, which is a characteristic nonperturbative method of many-body theory.[4,5,6] For a light impurity one can use a self-consistent, Kahana-type[7] calculation, based on the Bethe-Goldstone formalism.[8]
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