On different mechanisms of electron-phonon scattering of electron and hole excitations on an Ag

We present the results of a detailed theoretical study of the electron-phonon scattering of electron and hole excitations in the unoccupied and occupied surface states on an Ag(110) surface. We show that the electron-phonon coupling parameter [lambda] in the unoccupied surface state is approximately three times smaller than that in the occupied one, because the scattering of these states is determined by different phonon modes. The difference in the phonon-induced decay mechanisms of electron and hole excitations is determined by different spatial localizations of the unoccupied and occupied surface states at the [bar.Y] point of the two- dimensional Brillouin zone.