Explanation for the deviations from matthiessen's rule for the low-temperature electrical resistivity of the simple metals

A new type of trial function is introduced which explains both the large deviations from Matthiessen's rule observed for the low-temperature electrical resistivity of the polyvalent metals, as well as the absence of such deviations for the alkali metals. Excellent quantitative agreement between theory and experiment is obtained for the resistivity of aluminum, both as a function of temperature and as a function of residual resistivity.