Electron spectral density in a disordered system of hard sphere scatterers

The spectral density of an electron propagating in a disordered system of hard sphere scatterers is studied by use of a self-consistent approximation for the self-energy. The spectral density at fixed wavenumber is found to be a single-peaked function of energy. The approximation yields a sharp wavenumber-dependent band edge. For large wavenumbers the spectral density is well approximated by a Lorentzian, but for small wavenumbers it is dominated by a characteristic square root singularity at the band edge.