Transport Theoretical Approach to the Nucleon Spectral Function in Nuclear Matter

The nucleon spectral function in infinite nuclear matter is calculated in a quantum transport theoretical approach. Exploiting the known relation between collision rates and correlation functions the spectral function is derived self-consistently. By re-inserting the spectral functions into the collision integrals the description of hard processes from the high-momentum components of wave functions and interactions is improved iteratively until convergence is achieved. The momentum and energy distributions and the nuclear matter occupation probabilities are in very good agreement with the results obtained from many-body theory.