There are two main effects that drastically modify the dynamics of electronic excitations in clusters with respect to the bulk analogous situation. First, the discretization of levels in the electronic structure of the cluster reduces the number of final states to which an electronic excitation can decay enhancing its lifetime. Second, the reduction of dynamic screening in the proximity of the cluster surface changes the interaction potential between electrons and decreases the excitation lifetimes. The interplay between these two effects makes the analysis of electron dynamics in clusters both intricate and appealing. the theoretical description of electron dynamics in metal clusters

We basically develop two lines of research in this topic: First, we use density functional theory and the self-energy formalism to study the dependence on size of the lifetime of electronic excitations created in metal nanoparticles. Furthermore, we use time-dependent density functional theory to investigate the time scales in which the electronic screening is developed in finite systems. Time dependent density functional theory is also employed to calculate the energy transfer processes between moving charges and metal nanoparticles.