  Employing time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy we analyze the relaxation
dynamics of hot electrons in the charge density wave / Mott material 1T-TaS_2.
At 1.2 eV above the Fermi level we observe a hot electron lifetime of 12 +- 5
fs in the metallic state and of 60 +- 10 fs in the broken symmetry ground state
- a direct consequence of the reduced phase space for electron-electron
scattering determined by the Mott gap. Boltzmann equation calculations which
account for the interaction of hot electrons in a Bloch band with a
doublon-holon excitation in the Mott state provide insight into the unoccupied
electronic structure in the correlated state.
