Atomic distortion effects for surface-plasmon-mediated proton neutralization

We obtain the energy shifts and perturbed wavefunctions for the ground stat e of a hydrogen atom near a Mg surface and apply them to analyze the effect s of the atomic distortion on the process of proton neutralization at metal lic surfaces by surface-plasmon emission, The distorted collective transiti on rates are noticeably larger than the unperturbed rates mainly due to the energy shifts of the atomic level. We also analyze the possibility of the appearance of a threshold surface-atom distance below which the collective rates might vanish as a consequence of the upward shift of the perturbed at omic energy level. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.