The electron merry-go-round: Researchers find new mechanism for classical behavior of many-particle quantum systems

Photoemission is a property of metals and other materials that emit electrons when struck by light. Electron emission after light absorption was already explained by Albert Einstein. But since this effect is a highly complex process, scientists have still not been able to fully elucidate its details. Prof. Dr. Bernd von Issendorff and his team at the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Physics have now succeeded in detecting a previously unknown quantum effect in the angular distributions of photoelectrons from cryogenic mass-selected metal clusters. The angular distributions resemble those of classical particles, a behavior that is surprisingly explainable by the strong electron-electron interaction in these many-electron systems. The researchers published this finding in the current issue of Physical Review Letters.