Positron Binding and Annihilation in Alkane Molecules

Abstract

A model-potential approach has been developed to study positron interactions with molecules. Binding energies and annihilation rates are calculated for positron bound states with a range of alkane molecules, including rings and isomers. The calculated binding energies are in good agreement with experimental data, and the existence of a second bound state for $n$-alkanes (C${}_n$H${}_{2n+2}$) with $n\ge 12$ is predicted in accord with experiment. The annihilation rate for the ground positron bound state scales linearly with the square root of the binding energy.

6 pages, 3 figures, accepted by Physical Review Letters

References in corpus (7)

• Positron-molecule interactions: resonant attachment, annihilation, and bound states
• Mechanisms of positron annihilation on molecules
• Many-body theory of positron-atom interactions
• Positron scattering and annihilation on noble gas atoms
• $\gamma$-ray spectra and enhancement factors for positron annihilation spectra with core-electrons
• Calculations of positron binding and annihilation in polyatomic molecules
• Many-body theory calculations of positron binding to negative ions

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Many-body theory of positron binding in polyatomic molecules
• Model-potential calculations of positron binding, scattering, and annihilation for atoms and small molecules, using a Gaussian basis
• Effect of chlorination on positron binding to hydrocarbons: experiment and theory
• Effect of molecular constitution and conformation on positron binding and annihilation in alkanes
• Many-body Theory Calculations of Positron Binding to Halogenated Hydrocarbons
• Positron annihilation and binding in aromatic and other ring molecules
• Gamma -ray spectra in the positron-annihilation process of molecules at room temperature
• Many-body theory predictions of positron binding energies in five-membered heterocycles involving N, O, S and NH substituents