INT 9722782 Freericks This U.S.-Croatian research project between James Freericks of Georgetown University and Veljko Zlatic of the University of Zagreb will work toward uniting newly developed theoretical tools to describe how electrons interact with phonons in real materials. Specifically, the researchers intend to: 1) construct an accurate perturbative expansion for the electron-phonon interaction that includes the effects of a nonconstant electron density of states; and 2) compare the electronic spectral functions for the exact solution of a classical electron-phonon problem to the spectral functions determined by the conventional formalism. This should determine the effects of nonconstant density states on the spectral features. Results are expected to contribute to long-term efforts to construct a tunneling-inversion program that can incorporate nonconstant electronic density of states input from first-principles calculations. Success could be applicable to our understanding of electron-phonon mediated superconductors. This research in materials theory fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling leading experts in the United State and Central Europe to combine complementary talents and pool resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. ??
