Self-energies and the interactions of particles with surfaces

We have in this paper reviewed the method of treating many-body problems by means of an effective interaction self-energy. We have developed an alternatvie approach to the self-energy which is simpler and more straight-forward than standard methods, and we have illustrated its use with two examples of a charge interacting with a metal surface. In each case the self-energy produces the classical image potential together with corrections due to quantum mechanical effects. This method has also been successfully applied to the problem of an atom interacting with a surface. Corrections to the Van der Waals dispersion force are obtained, and via the non-conservative imaginary parts to /summation//sub i/(z) we discuss transition rates and energy exchange. 14 refs., 1 fig