Using state-of-the-art many-body Green’s function calculations based on the “GW plus cumulant”
approach, we analyze the properties of plasmon satellites in the electron spectral function resulting
from electron-plasmon interactions in one-, two- and three-dimensional systems. Specifically, we
show how their dispersion relation, lineshape and linewidth are related to the properties of the
constituent electrons and plasmons. To gain insight into the many-body processes giving rise to
the formation of plasmon satellites, we connect the “GW plus cumulant” approach to a many-body
wavefunction picture of electron-plasmon interactions and introduce the coupling-strength weighted
electron-plasmon joint-density states as a powerful concept for understanding plasmon satellites.