  We report a systematic measurement of the space charge effect observed in the
few-ps laser pulse regime in laser-based solid-state photoemission spectroscopy
experiments. The broadening and the shift of a gold Fermi edge as a function of
spot size, laser power, and emission angle are characterized for pulse lengths
of 6 ps and 6 eV photon energy. The results are used as a benchmark for an
$N$-body numerical simulation and are compared to different regimes used in
photoemission spectroscopy. These results provide an important reference for
the design of time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy setups and
next-generation light sources.
