Nonadiabatic dynamics at metal surfaces: Independent electron surface hopping with phonon and electron thermostats

Abstract

Independent Electron Surface Hopping (IESH) is a computational method for accounting for nonadiabatic electronic transitions in simulations of molecular motion at metal surfaces. IESH is applicable in cases of strong coupling where the electronic friction model is suspect, and has been demonstrated to accurately reproduce the results of detailed molecular beam experiments on vibrationally inelastic scattering of nitric oxide from the (111) surface of gold. However, in its original form, IESH represents a closed system without energy flow outside the local region of explicitly included substrate atoms. In this paper we propose two “thermostats” for introducing energy flow to the bulk, one for phonons and the other for electronic excitations.