The diamagnetism of quasi-bound conduction electrons

Extract

The diamagnetism of the conduction electrons gives rise to some of the most difficult problems in the theory of metals, the complete solution of which has not yet been found. Formally, the problem is equivalent to determining the density matrix

and the exact expression for ψ(r′, r, γ) for perfectly free electrons in a constant magnetic field H has recently been found by Sondheimer and Wilson(2). The extension of the theory to deal with quasi-bound electrons for all values of H seems to be out of the question, but an approximate partition function was given by Peierls (1), excluding terms of higher order than H². In The theory of metals ((3), referred to as T.M.) I gave a more powerful and simpler method of dealing with the problem, based upon the properties of ψ(r′, r, γ), but since the solution was obtained as a power series in μ₀Hγ, where it could at best determine only the normal diamagnetism.