Auxiliary particle theory of threshold singularities in photoemission and x-ray absorption spectra: Test of a conserving T-matrix approximation

We calculate the exponents of the threshold singularities in the photoemission spectrum of a deep core hole and its x-ray absorption spectrum in the framework of a systematic many-body theory of slave bosons and pseudofermions (for the empty and occupied core level). In this representation, photoemission and x-ray absorption can be understood on the same footing; no distinction between orthogonality catastrophe and excitonic effects is necessary. We apply the conserving slave particle T-matrix approximation (CTMA), recently developed to describe both Fermi and non-Fermi liquid behavior in systems with strong local correlations, to the x-ray problem as a test case. The numerical results for both photoemission and x-ray absorption are found to be in agreement with the exact infrared power law behavior in the weak as well as in the strong coupling regions. We point out a close relation of the CTMA with the parquet equation approach of Nozières et al.