Ubiquitous Nature of Multimode Vibrational Resonances in Positron-Molecule Annihilation

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Ubiquitous Nature of Multimode Vibrational Resonances in Positron-Molecule Annihilation

A. C. L. Jones, J. R. Danielson, M. R. Natisin, C. M. Surko, and G. F. Gribakin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 093201 – Published 27 February 2012; Erratum Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 149901 (2012)

Abstract

Positron annihilation on many molecules occurs via positron capture into vibrational Feshbach resonances, with annihilation rates often further enhanced by energy transfer to vibrational excitations weakly coupled to the positron continuum. Data presented here uncover another scenario in which the positron couples directly to a quasicontinuum of multimode vibrational states. A model that assumes excitation and escape from a statistically complete ensemble of multimode vibrations is presented that reproduces key features of the data.

Received 7 December 2011
Corrected 22 March 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.093201

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