Effective polarizability of polarizable atoms near metal surfaces

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Abstract
The density-functional formalism of an inhomogeneous electron gas is applied to compute the effective polarizability of polarizable atoms and molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces. The metal is treated in the "jellium" approximation and the adatom is approximated by a point dipole. The effects of screening of a small uniform external field are also considered. This approach is found to yield effective polarizabilities compatible with experiment and is expected to provide a useful qualitative description of the effective polarizability of atoms and molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces.