We present a theoretical study of photoemission from the Al(001) surfa
ce. The purpose of this work is to examine the validity of the nearly-
free-electron-gas model for Al, and to study the importance of many-bo
dy and surface effects in its photoemission spectra. This is an extens
ion of our earlier study on the Na spectra, but the band structure of
Al is much more complicated and requires a detailed band calculation.
A slab model is employed to self-consistently determine its band-with
the inclusion of the self-energy correction. The band states are then
used to calculate the photoemission spectra, which are compared with m
easurements. Reasonable agreement has been found for the Al bandwidth,
and also for the spectral profiles at various photon energies. This r
esult strongly supports the view that, once the many-body and surface
effects are properly taken into account, the spectra can be well descr
ibed with the nearly-free-electron bands-as in the case of Na. Special
attention has been paid to surface-state emissions. A resonant enhanc
ement in its spectral intensities has been found both in the calculati
on and in the measurement. However, there still exist some discrepanci
es which call for further studies.