Temperature dependence of the diffusion thermopower in metals.

Abstract

We calculate the diffusion thermopower for a system of electrons interacting with static impurities and longitudinal-acoustical phonons. Our calculation is based on a many-body transport equation developed earlier. We compare our results with conjectures from Kubo's formula and find agreement. For a simple model, we present the temperature variation of the corresponding vertex functions over a wide temperature range. We find a pronounced temperature dependence between 0.2${\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{D}$ and 1.0${\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{D}$; here ${\ensuremath{\Theta}}_{D}$ is the Debye temperature. We discuss the implications on the use of Mott's relationship.