Tunneling ``zero-bias'' anomaly in the quasi-ballistic regime

Abstract

For the first time, we study the tunneling density of states (DOS) of the interacting electron gas beyond the diffusive limit. A strong correction to the DOS persists even at electron energies exceeding the inverse transport relaxation time, which could not be expected from the well-known Altshuler-Aronov-Lee (AAL) theory. This correction originates from the interference between the electron waves scattered by an impurity and by the Friedel oscillation this impurity creates. Account for such processes also revises the AAL formula for the DOS in the diffusive limit.