1999/07/30 by I. Campillo, J. M. Pitarke, Ángel Rubio +3 · 3 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques #Surface and Thin Film Phenomena #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.83.2230
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2230 (1999) · 4 papes, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett
arxiv created 1999/07/30 · openalex publication_date 1999/09/13 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report a first-principles description of inelastic lifetimes of excited electrons in real Cu and Al, which we compute, within the GW approximation of many-body theory, from the knowledge of the self-energy of the excited quasiparticle. Our full band-structure calculations indicate that actual lifetimes are the result of a delicate balance between localization, density of states, screening, and Fermi-surface topology. A major contribution from d electrons participating in the screening of electron-electron interactions yields lifetimes of excited electrons in copper that are larger than those of electrons in a free-electron gas with the electron density equal to that of valence ( 4s1) electrons. In aluminum, a simple metal with no d bands, splitting of the band structure over the Fermi level results in electron lifetimes that are smaller than those of electrons in a free-electron gas.