Abstract
The density of states curve given by the recent theory of Bohm and Pines is compared with those of the Sommerfeld and Hartree-Fock theories. It is found that the Bohm and Pines curve shows a rudimentary ‘tail’, and the effect of this on the interpretation of the experimental soft x-ray emission data is discussed, with particular reference to the metals sodium, magnesium and aluminium. Although the Bohm and Pines band width is a great improvement on that of the Hartree-Fock theory, it is still much larger than the observed width. It is suggested that this may be partly due to the neglect of the short-range correlation energy: a lower bound to the narrowing of the band from this cause is calculated, and found to be 0·1 ev for sodium.

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