Many-Body Contributions to the Auger Line Shapes of Free-Electron Metals

Abstract
The core-valence-valence Auger line shapes of free-electron metals are evaluated with use of a change of mean-field model for the initial-state interactions. Significant many-body effects are (i) excitonic distortion of the initial-state orbitals, (ii) the Anderson orthogonality effect, (iii) replacement transitions, and (iv) shakeoff transitions. Comparison of the theory with Li data suggests that both many-body effects and band effects play major roles in determining Auger line shapes.