paper

The Work Done by an External Field

arXiv:1011.4113

Abstract

From the change in kinetic energy induced by an external field, we discuss the applicable conditions for the Mott-Davis and Moseley-Lukes form of the Kubo-Greenwood formula (KGF) for the electrical conductivity which has been implemented in \textit{ab initio} codes. We show that the simplified KGF is suitable only for computing the AC conductivity at sufficiently high frequency and when the gradient of the carrier density is small.

12 pages, submitted to J. Phys.: Condensed Matter