The van der Waals coefficients C 6, C 8, and C 10 for H and He interactions with the alkali-
metal (Li, Na, K, and Rb) and alkaline-earth-metal (Be, Mg, Ca, and Sr) atoms are
determined from oscillator strength sum rules. The oscillator strengths were computed using
a combination of ab initio and semiempirical methods. The dispersion parameters generally
agree with close to exact variational calculations for Li-H and Li-He at the 0.1% level of
accuracy. For larger systems, there is agreement with relativistic many-body perturbation …

We have realized since publication that the higher-polarizabilities and dispersion
coefficients are very sensitive to the representation of the ground-state wave function. The
ground-state wave functions for Na and K were represented with a linear combination of
Slater-type orbitals. One negative feature of a basis set expansion relates to the behavior at
large distances from the nucleus. Unlike a grid based calculation, the correct asymptotics
are not imposed and the larger-r part of the wave function has a weak influence on the …