Theoretical study of quasiparticle inelastic lifetimes as applied to aluminum

Abstract

We present a comparative analysis of different microscopic approaches to quasiparticle properties in metals. Aluminum is chosen as an application object, since it exhibits characteristics many of which are well-described in the jellium model. Within this model, we consider how different levels of physical elaboration of the electron-electron interaction affect the imaginary part of the quasiparticle self-energy and the quasiparticle renormalization constant. Also, we present ab initio calculations of the quasiparticle lifetime in crystalline aluminum with the use of both the linear muffin-tin orbital method and the plane-wave pseudopotential theory. To complete the picture of inelastic scattering effects in aluminum, we report first-principles calculations on electron-phonon interaction and on the phonon mediated contribution to the lifetime. The total inelastic lifetime broadening is compared with experimental data known from the literature.