Hole Dynamics in Noble Metals

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 $\mathrm{sp}$ 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 $\mathrm{sp}$ states below the Fermi level increases the $d$-hole lifetime. The impact of $d$-hole dynamics on electron-hole correlation effects is also addressed.