Image-potential-induced surface states, binding energies and lifetimes

An analysis of recent experimental results on image-potential-induced surface states is presented. Plasmon dispersion and single-particle effects in the medium response are included as well as the bound-state nature of the electron creating its own image potential. The formalism is accurate enough to explain well the existing experimental binding energy data. The author predicts a peak width narrower than the experimental one. This should be confirmed with increasing experimental resolution.