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In Section 14 of Fetter&Walecka's Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems, the authors evaluate the induced charge density due to a static charge impurity: $$ \delta \langle \rho(\mathbf{x}) \rangle = \frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} q \mathrm{d}q e^{i q x} \left[\frac{q^2}{q^2 + q_{TF}^2 g(q/k_F)} - 1\right] \tag{14.24} $$ where $g(x) = \frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{2x}(1-\frac{1}{4}x^2)\ln \left|\frac{1-\frac{1}{2}x}{1+\frac{1}{2}x}\right|$ is the Lindhard function.

The author first replace the non-analytic absolute value to polynomial: $$ \ln\left|\frac{q-2k_F}{q+2k_F}\right| = \lim\limits_{\eta \to 0} \frac{1}{2} \ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q+2k_F)^2 + \eta^2} $$ (Here we note that $\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q+2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}$ is actually $\ln[(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2] - \ln[(q+2k_F)^2 + \eta^2]$)

and use the following contour: contour

The pole contribution is ignored for $x \to \infty$ and then: $$ \delta \langle\rho(\mathbf{x})\rangle \sim \frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} \left(\int_{C_1} + \int_{C_2}\right) q \mathrm{d}q e^{iqx}\left(q^2\left\{q^2 + q_{TF}^2\left[\frac{1}{2} - \frac{k_F}{2q}(1-\frac{q^2}{4k_F^2})\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q+2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}\right]\right\}^{-1} - 1\right) \tag{14.25} $$

However, the authors then said:

Because of the decreasing exponential in the integrand, all the slowly varying functions in the inegrand can be replaced by their values at the start of the branch cut.

But first, why is this replacement possible? and second, in the logarithm, if we directly replace the value at the start of the branch cut, it will gives a $\ln 0$ divergence.

Finally, the authors give the expression(on page 179, with no more details): $$ \delta \langle \rho(\mathbf{x}) \rangle \sim \frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 ix} \lim\limits_{\eta \to 0} \left[\frac{\pi q_{TF}^2}{4k_F}\frac{8k_F^3}{(4k_F^2+\frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\left(e^{-2ik_Fx}i\int_{\eta}^{\infty} ue^{-ux} du + e^{2ik_Fx} i \int_{\eta}^{\infty} v e^{-vx} dv\right)\right] \tag{14.25} $$ I want to know how to get this?(I've tried several hours but failed. This integral is so frustrating...)

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  • $\begingroup$ The second edition of Zagoskin's many-body book has an appendix discussing this derivation too, IIRC. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 4, 2025 at 14:40
  • $\begingroup$ @TobiasFünke Yes, but it seems that there is no detailed derivations either. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 5, 2025 at 0:35
  • $\begingroup$ It is better if you write an answer yourself than editing the question. A question should be a question, and an answer (attempt) should be written as an answer. This also makes the question more readable. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 5, 2025 at 7:00
  • $\begingroup$ @TobiasFünke You are right, I've moved my attempt to an answer. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 5, 2025 at 7:50

1 Answer 1

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Here is my attempt. But I'm not sure if it is right.

Based on the result, I could guess what's might be the right way to get the answer. For simplicity, we only consider the $C_1$ integral. We first replace the slowly varying term by their value on the real axis. The term colored red is fast varying(and divergent when replacing $q$ by $2k_F + i \eta$)

$$ \frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} \int_{C_1} q \mathrm{d}q e^{iqx}\left(q^2\left\{q^2 + q_{TF}^2\left[\frac{1}{2} - \frac{k_F}{2q}(1-\frac{q^2}{4k_F^2})\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q+2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}\right]\right\}^{-1} - 1\right)\\ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} \int_{\eta}^{\infty} 2k_F i\mathrm{d}v e^{2ik_F x} e^{-v x} \Delta\left((2k_F)^2 \left\{(2k_F)^2 + q_{TF}^2 \left[\frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{4}\color{red}{(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2})\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q + 2k_F)^2 + \eta^{2}}}\right]\right\}^{-1} \right)\\ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx}(2k_F)^3 \Delta\left\{\left[(2k_F)^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2 \right]- \frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2})\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q + 2k_F)^2 + \eta^{2}}\right\}^{-1} $$ The $\Delta$ operator represents the difference of two sides of the branch cut.

Then we treat the term $[\ldots]$ as the dominant term and Taylor expand the denominator(See the justification below): $$ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx}(2k_F)^3 \Delta\left\{\frac{1}{(4k_F^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2})\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q + 2k_F)^2 + \eta^{2}}\right\}\\ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx}(2k_F)^3 \frac{1}{(4k_F^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2}) \Delta\left[\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q + 2k_F)^2 + \eta^{2}}\right] $$ The zeroth order term in the expansion vanish due to the $\Delta$ operator. Now, since $\Delta\left[\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q + 2k_F)^2 + \eta^{2}}\right] = i\pi$ on contour $C_1$, we have: $$ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx}\frac{(2k_F)^3}{(4k_F^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2}) i\pi\\ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx} \frac{(2k_F)^3}{(4k_F^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2(1-\frac{(2k_F+iv)^{2}}{4k_F^2}) i\pi\\ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx} \frac{(2k_F)^3}{(4k_F^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2\frac{-iv}{k_F^2} i\pi\\ =\frac{Ze}{4\pi^2 i x} \lim_{\eta \to 0} e^{2ik_F x}\frac{(2k_F)^3}{(4k_F^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2)^2}\frac{\pi q_{TF}^2}{4k_F^2} \int_{\eta}^{\infty} i v e^{-vx} \mathrm{d}v $$ where in the third line we ignore the $v^2$ term due to the decaying term $e^{-vx}$.


For the justification of Taylor expansion. Maybe one possible explanation is that, we can break the integration into two part:$\int_{2\eta}^{\infty} + \int_{\eta}^{2\eta}$.

For the second part:

$$ \int_{\eta}^{2\eta} i \mathrm{d}v e^{-vx}(2k_F)^3 \Delta\left\{\left[(2k_F)^2 + \frac{1}{2}q_{TF}^2 \right]- \frac{1}{4}q_{TF}^2(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2})\frac{1}{2}\ln \frac{(q-2k_F)^2 + \eta^2}{(q + 2k_F)^2 + \eta^{2}}\right\}^{-1} $$ Notice that $\ln[(q-2k_F)^2+\eta^2]$ diverge when $v \to \eta^+$, but the divergence is at the denominator, thus the integrand is bounded in this region, thus this part of the integral is at most $\mathcal{O}(\eta)$. In the final limiting process, this extra contribution can be ignored.

For the first part, again, since $x \to \infty$, we only need to care about the integrand at small $v$, but for $v = 2\eta$, $(1-\frac{q^{2}}{4k_F^2})\ln[(q-2k_F)^2+\eta^2] = -2i\eta\ln[3\eta^2]/k_F + \mathcal{O}(\eta^2)$. This term is indeed small for a small $\eta$. Thus the Taylor expansion is justified.

The final result is not changed, we just replace $\int_{\eta}^{\infty} i v e^{-vx} \mathrm{d}v$ to $\int_{2\eta}^{\infty} i v e^{-vx} \mathrm{d}v$ but since we take $\eta \to 0$, the result is the same.


Maybe my attempt seems 'ugly'. Is it right? Are there some more elegant approach?

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