Dynamical and geometrical effects on the physisorption of atoms

The physisorption of atoms moving uniformly parallel to a plane surface and of atoms situated near a metal sphere is analyzed. A local dielectric function is used to calculate the energy of interaction in each case. The dynamical case is shown to give significant effects for atomic energies well beyond the thermal domain. The energy for both instances is calculated using a frequency- and space-dependent quantum-mechanical self-energy function.