Abstract The gradient approximations of the Kadanoff and Baym equations are derived up to first order. The off-shell motions responsible for the satellites are shown to ensure causality. The cancellation of off-shell motions from the drift and correlation part of the reduced density provides a precursor of the kinetic equation for the quasiparticle distribution which leads to a functional between reduced and quasiparticle distribution, named the extended quasiparticle picture. Virial corrections appear as internal gradients in the selfenergy and therefore in the considered processes. With this extended quasiparticle picture, the non-Markovian kinetic equations are transformed into Markovian ones for proper defined quasiparticles without neglect showing the exact cancellation of off-shell parts. Alternative approaches are discussed for comparison.
Abstract The systematic expansion of the selfenergy is presented with the help of the closure relation of chapter 7. Besides Hartree–Fock leading to meanfield kinetic equations, the random phase approximation (RPA) is shown to result into the Lennard–Balescu kinetic equation, and the ladder approximation into the Beth–Uehling–Uhlenbeck kinetic equation. The deficiencies of the ladder approximation are explored compared to the exact T-matrix by missing maximally crossed diagrams. The T-matrix provides the Bethe–Salpeter equation for the two-particle correlation functions. Vertex corrections to the RPA are presented. For a two-dimensional example, the selfenergy and effective mass are calculated. The structure factor and the pair-correlation function are introduced and calculated for various approximations.