Van der Waals interactions: Accuracy of pair potential approximations

Van der Waals interactions between single atoms and solids are discussed for the regime of large separation. A commonly employed approximation is to evaluate this interaction as a sum of two-body interactions between the adatom and the constituent atoms of the solid. The resulting potentials are here compared with known results in various geometries. Analogous comparisons are made for diatomic molecules near either single atoms or semi-infinite surfaces and for triatomic molecules' interactions with single atoms. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4765328]