1981/12/15 by Elihu Abrahams, P. W. Anderson, P. A. Lee +1 · 9 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Topological Materials and Phenomena
paper · doi:10.1103/physrevb.24.6783
openalex publication_date 1981/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
A calculation of the electron quasiparticle lifetime in a disordered metal due to electron-electron scattering is given. The calculation takes account of the diffusive nature of electron motion which leads to enhancement of the diagonal exchange term of the electron self-energy. The lifetime, as a function of temperature, behaves as T^\ensuremath-(d)/(2) where d is the dimensionality, in contrast to the T^\ensuremath-2 behavior of ordinary Fermi-liquid theory. At d=2, a logarithmic singularity occurs which leads to (TlnT)^\ensuremath-1 behavior of the lifetime and a failure of the quasiparticle picture near the Fermi surface. The calculated lifetime agrees in temperature, Fermi energy, and elastic mean-free-path dependence with recent experiments on silicon inversion layers.