  We investigate the interaction of ground and excited states of a silver atom
with noble gases (NG), including helium. Born-Oppenheimer potential energy
curves are calculated with quantum chemistry methods and spin-orbit effects in
the excited states are included by assuming a spin-orbit splitting independent
of the internuclear distance. We compare our results with experimentally
available spectroscopic data, as well as with previous calculations. Because of
strong spin-orbit interactions, excited Ag-NG potential energy curves cannot be
fitted to Morse-like potentials. We find that the labeling of the observed
vibrational levels has to be shifted by one unit.
