  We assess the accuracy of vibrational damping rates of diatomic adsorbates on
metal surfaces as calculated within the local-density friction approximation
(LDFA). An atoms-in-molecules (AIM) type charge partitioning scheme accounts
for intra-molecular contributions and overcomes the systematic underestimation
of the non-adiabatic losses obtained within the prevalent independent atom
approximation. The quantitative agreement obtained with theoretical and
experimental benchmark data suggests the LDFA-AIM as an efficient and reliable
approach to account for electronic dissipation in ab initio molecular dynamics
simulations of surface chemical reactions.
