= Electron-hole recombination
An <electron> filling an <electron hole> removes both excitations relative to the filled-band background. Their <electric charges> cancel, consistent with <charge conservation>; the remaining <electrons> are still present. The released <energy> can leave through <photon emission> or other channels, including <phonons>. Formation of an <exciton> instead retains the excited <electron> and <electron hole> as a bound pair; recombination removes the pair. A <valence band> <electron> filling a nearby vacancy merely moves the <electron hole> and does not remove the total vacancy count.
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