Self-consistent electron lifetimes for electron-phonon scattering

TL;DR

This paper introduces a self-consistent method to accurately calculate electron lifetimes affected by electron-phonon interactions, resolving divergences caused by piezoelectric coupling and improving understanding of electronic properties in various materials.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel self-consistent approach to compute electron linewidths, addressing divergence issues in piezoelectric materials and enhancing the interpretation of experimental data.

Findings

Resolves divergence in electron linewidth calculations for piezoelectric materials.

Significantly alters linewidth predictions in nonpiezoelectric, polar materials.

Provides a broadly applicable method for interpreting electronic property experiments.

Abstract

Acoustic phonons in piezoelectric materials strongly couple to electrons through a macroscopic electric field. We show that this coupling leads to a momentum-dependent divergence of the Fan-Migdal electron linewidth. We then develop a self-consistent theory for calculating electron linewidths, which not only removes this piezoelectric divergence but also considerably modifies the linewidth in nonpiezoelectric, polar materials. Our predictions await immediate experimental confirmation, and this self-consistent method should be broadly used in interpreting various experiments on the electronic properties of real materials.