We present a new high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission study of 1T -TiSe2 in both, its room-temperature, normal phase and its low-temperature, charge-density wave phase. At low temperature the photoemission spectra are strongly modified, with large band renormalisations at highsymmetry points of the Brillouin zone and a very large transfer of spectral weight to backfolded bands. A theoretical calculation of the spectral function for an excitonic insulator phase reproduces the experimental features with very good agreement. This gives strong evidence in favour of the excitonic insulator scenario as a driving force for the charge-density wave transition in 1T -TiSe2. PACS numbers:Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDC's) are layered compounds exhibiting a variety of interesting physical properties, mainly due to their reduced dimensionality [1]. One of the most frequent characteristics is a ground state exhibiting a charge-density wave (CDW), with its origin arising from a particular topology of the Fermi surface and/or a strong electron-phonon coupling [2]. Among the TMDC's 1T -TiSe 2 shows a commensurate 2×2×2 structural distortion below 202 K, accompanied by the softening of a zone boundary phonon and with changes in the transport properties [3,4]. In spite of many experimental and theoretical studies, the driving force for the transition remains controversial. Several angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) studies suggested either the onset of an excitonic insulator phase [5,6] or a band Jahn-Teller effect [7]. Furthermore, TiSe 2 has recently attracted strong interest due to the observation of superconductivity when intercalated with Cu [8]. In systems showing exotic properties, such as Kondo systems for example [9], the calculation of the spectral function has often been a necessary and decisive step for the interpretation of the ARPES data and the determination of the ground state of the systems. In the case of 1T -TiSe 2 , such a calculation for an excitonic insulator phase lacked so far.In this letter we present a high-resolution ARPES study of 1T -TiSe 2 , together with theoretical calculations of the excitonic insulator phase spectral function for this compound. We find that the experimental ARPES spectra show strong band renormalisations with a very large transfer of spectral weight into backfolded bands in the low-temperature phase. The spectral function calculated for the excitonic insulator phase is in strikingly good * Electronic address: herve.cercellier@unine.ch agreement with the experiments, giving strong evidence for the excitonic origin of the transition.The excitonic insulator model was first introduced in the sixties, for a semi-conductor or a semi-metal with a very small indirect gap E G [10,11,12,13]. Thermal excitations lead to the formation of holes in the valence band and electrons in the conduction band. For low free carrier densities, the weak screening of the electronhole Coulomb interaction leads to the formation of stable electron-hole bound states, called excito...

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Recently strong evidence has been found in favor of a BCS-like condensation of excitons in 1T -TiSe2. Theoretical photoemission intensity maps have been generated by the spectral function calculated within the excitonic condensate phase model and set against experimental angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy data. Here, the calculations in the framework of this model are presented in detail. They represent an extension of the original excitonic insulator phase model of Jérome et al. [Phys. Rev. 158, 462 (1967)] to three dimensional and anisotropic band dispersions. A detailed analysis of its properties and further comparison with experiment are also discussed.