Abstract
In order to investigate the influence of Fermi-surface geometry on the lifetime of an electron due to interactions with other electrons, we have performed a calculation (using Fermi's "Golden Rule") of the energy- and temperature-dependent lifetime of an electron on a cylindrical Fermi surface. At zero temperature, the dominant energy dependence of the inverse lifetime or the decay rate is for small values of the parameter which is the electron energy relative to the Fermi energy measured in units of . At finite temperatures the decay rate leads to an electrical resistivity proportional to instead of the dependence characteristic of a spherical Fermi surface. In addition, the similar calculation (using Fermi's "Golden Rule") for a spherical Fermi surface has been done exactly at zero temperature. The magnitude of the correction to the well-known term has been obtained. Furthermore, in an appendix, written with N. D. Mermin, the dominating influence of the density of states on the wave-vector dependence of the susceptibility is demonstrated.
- Received 5 November 1971
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.4.302
©1971 American Physical Society