Non Fermi liquid renormalization of the conductivity of fermions coupled to gauge fields

Abstract

The method of the quantum kinetic equation is applied to the problem of renormalization of the conductivity of normal metals by gauge electron-electron interactions. It is shown that in the three-dimensional case the relativistic electromagnetic interaction (vector interaction of electrons with transverse photons) leads to an unusual temperature dependence, indicating a deviation from the Fermi liquid theory at low temperatures. In two dimensions such corrections are found to result from both the scalar (density-density or Coulomb) and the vector (current-current) gauge interactions.