Image resonance in the many-body density of states at a metal surface

Abstract

The electronic properties of a semi-infinite metal surface without a bulk gap are studied by a formalism that is able to account for the continuous spectrum of the system. The density of states at the surface is calculated within the $\mathrm{GW}$ approximation of many-body perturbation theory. We demonstrate the presence of an unoccupied surface resonance peaked at the position of the first image state. The resonance encompasses the whole Rydberg series of image states and cannot be resolved into individual peaks. Its origin is the shift in spectral weight when many-body correlation effects are taken into account.