DYNAMIC IMAGE POTENTIAL IN MESOSCOPIC SYSTEMS

A dynamic theory of interaction between tunneling electrons and charge fluctuations on the electrodes of a mesoscopic tunnel junction is dev eloped and accounts for the renormalization of the tunneling potential due to the interaction. It is shown that the magnitude of the potenti al renormalization depends on the relation between the characteristic frequency of the charge fluctuations and the traversal time of tunneli ng tau(0). The modes with frequencies larger than tau(0)(-1) do not af fect the tunneling potential.