Quantum transport in crystals: Effective mass theorem and k\(\cdot\)p Hamiltonians (Q647373)

The authors discuss the effective mass approximation and k\(\cdot\)p models that describes quantum evolution of electrons in a crystal lattice. Under the assumptions that the electrons move in both a periodic potential and a macroscopic one, and the typical period \(\varepsilon\) of the period potential is very small, while the macroscopic potential acts on a much bigger length scale, using the envelop-function decomposition of the electron wave function, they investigate the homogenization asymptotics. They prove that, if the external potential is smooth enough, the k\(\cdot\)p and effective mass method converges in the strong sense to the exact dynamics, and that the position density of the electrons converges weakly to its effective mass approximation.