SINGLE-PARTICLE AND COLLECTIVE DEGREES OF FREEDOM IN C-60

The electromagnetic response of the fullerene C-60 in the energy range 0 less than or equal to E less than or equal to 35 eV, exhausting 84% of the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule, has been worked out using the local density and random phase approximations. A detailed correspondence between the calculated pi-plasmons and the peaks determined in optical/uv studies is found. The damping width (approximate to 12 eV) of the Mie resonance observed at approximate to 20 eV is well reproduced, and is due to Landau damping. This resonance is found to be determined by sigma --> sigma and, to a large extent, also by sigma --> pi, delta particle-hole transitions.