title: Hole dynamics in noble metals.
abstract: Hole dynamics in noble metals (Cu and Au) is investigated by means of first-principles many-body calculations. While holes in a free-electron gas are known to live shorter than electrons with the same excitation energy, our results indicate that d holes in noble metals exhibit longer inelastic lifetimes than excited sp electrons, in agreement with experiment. The density of states available for d-hole decay is larger than that for the decay of excited electrons; however, the small overlap between d and sp states below the Fermi level increases the d-hole lifetime. The impact of d-hole dynamics on electron-hole correlation effects is also addressed.
authors.affiliation: Materia Kondentsatuaren Fisika Saila, Zientzi Fakultatea, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 644 Posta kutxatila, 48080 Bilbo, Basque Country, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Campillo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pitarke
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goldmann
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Echenique