Electron pair escape from fullerene cage via collective modes

Area of Science:

• * Condensed matter physics
• * Quantum chemistry
• * Materials science

Background:

• * Understanding electron correlation is crucial for predicting material properties.
• * Photoemission is a key technique for probing electronic structure.
• * Correlated electron emission from complex systems remains challenging to model.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To elucidate the mechanism of correlated two-electron release following photoexcitation.
• * To investigate the role of plasmon oscillations in mediating electron-electron interactions.
• * To validate theoretical findings with experimental data for C60 fullerene.

Main Methods:

• * Theoretical investigation using the nonequilibrium Green's function approach.
• * Ab initio calculations for C60 fullerene.
• * Analysis of plasmon oscillations and effective electron-electron interactions.

Main Results:

• * Identified a novel pathway for correlated two-electron emission.
• * Demonstrated that plasmon oscillations are central to the electron-electron interaction governing this process.
• * Theoretical results for C60 fullerene align with experimental observations.

Conclusions:

• * Correlated two-electron photoemission is a viable mechanism in many-body systems.
• * This phenomenon provides a powerful method for probing electronic correlations.
• * The findings advance the understanding of electron dynamics in complex materials.