Ab Initio calculation of band gap renormalization in highly excited GaAs

We present ab initio quasiparticle self-energy calculations in crystalline GaAs for cases of intense electronic excitation (~ 10% of valence electrons excited into conduction band), relevant for high-intensity ultra-short pulsed laser experiments. Calculations are performed using an out-of-equilibrium generalization of the GW approximation based on the Keldysh Green’s function approach. Our results indicate that while the band gap is a sensitive function of the amount of excitation, it is not possible to induce complete band gap closure in this system by purely electronic means.