Plasmon dispersion effects for surface plasmon mediated proton neutralization at Mg surfaces

Transition rates for surface plasmon-assisted electron capture by H+ ions i nteracting with Mg surfaces have been calculated. We show that the plasmon dispersion and the representation of the initial metal state significantly change the transition rates with respect to previous calculations. In parti cular, the ion perturbation on the initial state greatly increases the tran sition rates at large ion-surface distances which is consistent with the re sults obtained by other authors for the Auger process. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.