  We calculate the intersubband and intrasubband many-body inelastic Coulomb
scattering rates due to electron-electron interaction in two-subband
semiconductor quantum wire structures. We analyze our relaxation rates in terms
of contributions from inter- and intrasubband charge-density excitations
separately. We show that the intersubband (intrasubband) charge-density
excitations are primarily responsible for intersubband (intrasubband) inelastic
scattering. We identify the contributions to the inelastic scattering rate
coming from the emission of the single-particle and the collective excitations
individually. We obtain the lifetime of hot electrons injected in each subband
as a function of the total charge density in the wire.
