Many-body effects in mesoscopic systems

Small systems with sizes on the micrometer scale behave differently from their bulk metal counterparts. This can be investigated by comparing the signatures of many-body effects. Indeed, electrons in those mesoscopic systems such as experimentally accessible quantum dots show a different response to a sudden perturbation than the conduction electrons in metals. This leads to characteristic deviations of the x-ray absorption properties from the well-understood metallic case.