Model dielectric functions for fluctuation potential calculations in electron gas: a critical assessment

TL;DR

This paper critically compares various models for dielectric functions in electron gas, highlighting the effectiveness of the memory function approach for accurate fluctuation potential calculations in spectroscopic applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive assessment of different dielectric function models, introducing the memory function method as a flexible and effective tool for electron gas analysis.

Findings

Memory function approach outperforms other models in flexibility and accuracy

Correlation-augmented RPA improves upon standard RPA

Reconstruction from moments offers a viable alternative

Abstract

In this article, we report a critical assessment of dielectric function calculations in electron gas through the comparison of different modelling methods. This work is motivated by the fact that the dielectric function is a key quantity in the multiple scattering description of plasmon features in various electron-based spectroscopies. Starting from the standard random phase approximation (RPA) expression, we move on to correlation-augmented RPA, then damped RPA models. Finally, we study the reconstruction of the dielectric function from its moments, using the Nevanlinna and memory function approaches. We find the memory function method to be the most effective, being highly flexible and customizable.