Satellite structures in the spectral functions of semiconductor quantum well two-dimensional electron gases: a GW plus cumulant study

Johannes Lischner, Derek Vigil-Fowler, Steven G. Louie

Published 2014-02-18Version 1

We present theoretical calculations for the spectral functions and single-particle densities of states of the two-dimensional electron gas in semiconductor quantum wells at different electron densities using the GW+cumulant method. We compare our results to GW only calculations and find significant differences in the description of the satellites between the two theories: while GW theory predicts the existence of a plasmaron excitation, no such excitation is found in GW+cumulant theory. We compare our results to experimental tunneling spectra from semiconductor quantum wells and find good agreement for the satellite properties.