Damping of plasmons in the alkali metals: Interband transitions and many-electron interactions

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Abstract
The wave-vector dependence of the lifetimes of plasmons in the alkali metals, over the range from zero to the Fermi wave vector, is due to two important decay mechanisms. They are decay into interband transitions, important at small wave vectors, and electron-electron interactions beyond the random-phase approximation, important at the larger wave vectors. A simple calculation including both of these is in agreement with the available data. Further work can provide a new test of our understanding of many-electron phenomena.