C. Lopez Bastidas, J.A. Maytorena and A. Liebsch

The lifetime of hot electrons at noble metal surfaces is studied within a model focussing on the spatial variation of s-d screening. The lifetime is calculated using the GW approximation for the self-energy. The dynamics of electrons is treated within a two-component s-d electron model which permits explicit consideration of the mutual polarization of induced s and d electron densities. In the region of s electron spill-out near the surface the hot-electron lifetime is shown to be smaller than in the bulk due to a surface induced reduction of s-d screening.