Atomic distortion effects for surface-plasmon-mediated proton neutralization

Abstract

We obtain the energy shifts and perturbed wavefunctions for the ground state of a hydrogen atom near a Mg surface and apply them to analyze the effects of the atomic distortion on the process of proton neutralization at metallic surfaces by surface-plasmon emission. The distorted collective transition 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 atomic energy level.