The isosteric heat of adsorption, the lateral energy, the frequency of
the perpendicular monolayer vibrational mode and the sequential occur
rence of metastable high order commensurate structures for the Xe mono
layer adsorbed on the Cu(110) surface have been determined using heliu
m atom scattering experiments. The same quantities are then calculated
on the basis of simple expressions of semi-empirical interaction pote
ntials and the pertinency of such expressions in describing the whole
body of experimental data is discussed. It is shown that a fair agreem
ent can be obtained in a first approximation with potentials exhibitin
g a minimum of three parameters.