Abstract
This chapter examines the metal surface in a strong external electric field. According to the classical electromagnetic theory the metal is treated as an ideal conductor and the electric field is screened in the metal. Thus, an external electric field of magnitude F applied normal to the metal surface drops discontinuously to zero at the surface. The metal interior is screened from this field by the screening charge of magnitude. This excess charge may exist only on the metal surface that is considered as a mathematical plane. From the microscopic point of view, however, the screening charge distribution and also electric field vary smoothly over distances of a few atomic diameters in the direction perpendicular to the surface. The electron density distribution for the charged system can be obtained either variationally by employment of the trial function for the electron density or self-consistently by solving the Kohn–Sham equations. The equations for a charged surface are unaltered as compared to the neutral case, except of the boundary condition for the electrostatic potential in the vacuum region.
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