  High resolution photoelectron spectra of cold mass selected Cu_n-, Ag_n- and
Au_n- with n =53-58 have been measured at a photon energy of 6.42 eV. The
observed electron density of states is not the expected simple electron shell
structure, but seems to be strongly influenced by electron-lattice
interactions. Only Cu55- and Ag55- exhibit highly degenerate states. This is a
direct consequence of their icosahedral symmetry, as is confirmed by density
functional theory calculations. Neighboring sizes exhibit perturbed electronic
structures, as they are formed by removal or addition of atoms to the
icosahedron and therefore have lower symmetries. Gold clusters in the same size
range show completely different spectra with almost no degeneracy, which
indicates that they have structures of much lower symmetry. This behaviour is
related to strong relativistic bonding effects in gold, as demonstrated by ab
initio calculations for Au55-.
