Realistic anharmonic decay rates in the VED framework

Identify realistic values for the anharmonic decay rate τ_{anh} used in the anharmonic damping term τ^{-1}_{ANH}(q,ω) of the excitation Boltzmann equation within the Van der Waals Electrodynamics (VED) model, beyond the very-large-anharmonicity regime adopted here.

Background

To ensure finite conductivity when only long-range interactions are included, the authors introduce an anharmonic decay model for electrodynamic excitations, controlled by τ_{anh}. In the parabolic-band tests they explore the very large anharmonicity regime as a simplifying choice.

For the realistic VED treatment of BN-encapsulated graphene, they similarly focus on the very large anharmonicity regime and defer the determination of realistic τ_{anh} values to future work.

References

We can then study the very large anharmonicity regime like for the parabolic case. We leave the description of realistic value to further works.

— Coupled dynamical Boltzmann transport equations with long-range electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions in 2D materials  (2604.01746 - Macheda et al., 2 Apr 2026) in Section 4 (The response functions), Subsection “Choice of τ^{-1}_{ANH},” VED case