Insight into the electron-positron correlations in metals through the looking glass

The energy dependence of the two-particle correlation functions is also a source of controversy between various theoretical approaches. The energy dependent enhancement factors describe properly the positron interaction with delocalised s and p electrons, but this approach overestimates the high momentum components of the e-p momentum densities, dominated by the localised d and f states. On the contrary, the calculations that employ the energy averaged enhancement factors match better with experiment for localised d and f electrons, but they hardly reproduce experimental spectra for nearly-free electron populations. An attempt to visit two sides of the looking glass is made in the theory of the present work. The model combines the properties of both approaches. The resulting e-p momentum densities and enhancement factors are in good agreement with the experimental data for simple, noble and transition metals, both in the low and high momentum region.