Bound states in two-dimensional shielded potentials

We study numerically the existence and character of bound states for positive and negative point charges shielded by the response of a two-dimensional homogeneous electron gas. The problem is related to many physical situations and has recently arisen in experiments for impurities on metal surfaces with Schockley surface states. Mathematical theorems ascertain a bound state for two-dimensional circularly symmetric potentials $V(r)$ with ${\int }_0^{\mathrm{\infty }}drrV(r)\le 0$. We find that a shielded potential with ${\int }_0^{\mathrm{\infty }}drrV(r)>0$ may also sustain a bound state. Moreover, on the same footing we study the electron-electron interactions in the two-dimensional electron gas finding a bound state with an energy minimum for a certain electron gas density.