Dynamical Mean-Field Theory of Disordered Electrons: Coherent Potential Approximation and Beyond

Abstract: I review the quantum theory of the electron moving in a random environment. First, the quantum mechanics of individual particles scattered on a random potential is discussed. The quantum-mechanical description is extended to many-body systems by using many-body Green functions. The many-body approach is used to derive the coherent-potential approximation and to show how it fits into the dynamical mean-field theory. The generating functional of the coherent-potential approximation is obtained in an analytic form from the limit to infinite dimensions of the general many-body description of non-interacting electrons in random lattices. The analytic generating functional of the mean-field description of random systems is extended to the Falicov-Kimball model with thermally equilibrated scattering lattice potential. The many-body Green functions are then used to calculate transport properties. The electrical conductivity of the coherent-potential approximation is derived from the two-particle Green function calculated in infinite spatial dimensions. Finally, a perturbation theory for the vertex corrections to the mean-field conductivity is introduced. In particular, it is shown how to make the expansion beyond the local approximations conserving.