This new research project will study issues concerning dynamical electronic response and many-body effects of real metals, both at the surface and in the bulk. The emphasis will be first-principles treatment of the electron-density response function and the electron self-energy. The goal is the realistic treatment and description of electronic excitation in real metals, and through such understanding obtaining explanations for numerous experimental results which deviate strongly from the results predicted by simpler (density-functional) theory. %%% The mechanical properties of materials are determined primarily by their static electronic structure. Calculations of the static electronic structure is more-or-less routine for a wide range of materials. However, dynamic properties, such as the response of a material to light or to rapidly moving ions, are generally not within the scope of these conventional approaches. This project intends to develop new classes of techniques which are both accurate and tractible when applied to such dynamical phenomena.
