  The electronic structure of benzene on graphite (0001) is computed using the
GW approximation for the electron self-energy. The benzene quasiparticle energy
gap is predicted to be 7.2 eV on graphite, substantially reduced from its
calculated gas-phase value of 10.5 eV. This decrease is caused by a change in
electronic correlation energy, an effect completely absent from the
corresponding Kohn-Sham gap. For weakly-coupled molecules, this correlation
energy change is seen to be well described by a surface polarization effect. A
classical image potential model illustrates trends for other conjugated
molecules on graphite.
