Jan Franz

Low-energy positron scattering from gas-phase tetrahydrofuran: a quantum treatment of the dynamics and a comparison with experiments.

In this paper we report new quantum calculations of the dynamics for low-energy positrons interacting with gaseous molecules of tetrahydrofuran. The new quantum scattering cross sections are differential and integral cross sections at collision energies between 1.0 and 25.0 eV and include a careful treatment of the additional effects on the scattering process brought about by the permanent dipole moment of the target molecule. The present results are compared with an extensive range of measured data, both for the angular distributions and for the elastic integral cross sections and agree remarkably well with all findings. The new calculated quantities reported here also show the importance of correcting the experimental integral cross sections for the angular discrimination in the forward direction.

Solution of coupled integral equations for quantum scattering in the presence of complex potentials

In this paper, we present a method to compute solutions of coupled integral equations for quantum scattering problems in the presence of a complex potential. We show how the elastic and absorption cross sections can be obtained from the numerical solution of these equations in the asymptotic region at large radial distances.

Positron binding to alkali-metal hydrides: The role of molecular vibrations

The bound vibrational levels for J=0 have been computed for the series of alkali-metal hydride molecules from LiH to RbH, including NaH and KH. For all four molecules the corresponding potential-energy curves have been obtained for each isolated species and for its positron-bound complex (e{sup +}XH). It is found that the calculated positron affinity values strongly depend on the molecular vibrational state for which they are obtained and invariably increase as the molecular vibrational energy content increases. The consequences of our findings on the likelihood of possibly detecting such weakly bound species are briefly discussed.

Dipole-driven dynamics for near-threshold electron/positron interactions with pyrimidinic DNA bases: a path to compound formations

ABSTRACT Calculations are reported for electron and positron scattering from isolated cytosine and thymine, where the two pyrimidinic single-ring DNA bases, in the gas-phase at energies near the elastic threshold, they reveal the special features of the dipole-driven scattering states. All molecules examined exhibit, in fact, supercritical (>1.67 D) permanent dipoles which can therefore also support, below threshold, excited bound compound states (M·e− and M·e+) classified as dipole-bound states. The possible paths for going from above to below the energy threshold to form whole, unfragmented bound complexes are discussed for both leptonic projectiles.