First-principles study of electron linewidths in graphene

Abstract

We present first-principles calculations of the linewidths of low-energy quasiparticles in n-doped graphene arising from both the electron-electron and the electron-phonon interactions. The contribution to the electron linewidth arising from the electron-electron interactions varies significantly with wave vector at fixed energy; in contrast, the electron-phonon contribution is virtually wave vector independent. These two contributions are comparable in magnitude at a binding energy of ∼0.2eV, corresponding to the optical phonon energy. The calculated linewidths, with both electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions included, explain to a large extent the linewidths seen in recent photoemission experiments. © 2009 The American Physical Society.