Positronium (Ps), a hydrogen-like atom composed of an electron and its antimatter partner, the positron, is formed in considerable quantities whenever positrons interact with matter. It has unexpectedly been found to scatter from a wide variety of atoms and molecules in a way very similar to that of a bare electron moving at the same velocity, despite Ps being neutral and twice the mass.
The total cross sections of positronium (Ps) scattering from a carbon-dioxide molecule have been measured over the range (7-400) eV incident-Ps energy. For the first time in Ps collisions, a resonantlike structure is observed. For the present target, it occurs around 9.5 eV followed by a broader peak at ∼60 eV. Following Brawley et al. [Science 330, 789 (2010)] who have observed similarities between the total cross sections of positronium and of electrons incident upon a given target at the same velocity, a corresponding comparison is made for CO2. The comparison suggests that the former peak corresponds to the well-known 2Π(u) shape resonance which occurs for electrons at an incident velocity of 0.5 a.u. Further features are discussed and theoretical input is sought.
The first absolute experimental determinations of the differential cross-sections for the formation of ground-state positronium are presented for He, Ar, H2 and CO2 near 0 ○ . Results are compared with available theories. The ratio of the differential and integrated cross-sections for the targets exposes the higher propensity for forward-emission of positronium formed from He and H2.PACS numbers: 36.10. Dr, 34.80.Bm, 34.80.Uv The formation of positronium (Ps, the bound state of an electron and a positron) is an important channel in the scattering of positrons from atoms and molecules e.g. [1][2][3], accounting for up to 50% of the total cross-section, with experimental and theoretical investigations of its integrated formation cross-sections available for a wide range of atoms and simple molecules, e.g. [3][4][5]. Recent experimental studies also include its formation in an excited state [6] or accompanied by ionic excitation [7]. However, whilst theoretical predictions for the differential Ps formation cross-section ( dQPs dΩ ) are available for atomic [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and molecular [17,18] hydrogen, the noble gases [9,16,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Details of the experimental arrangement employed at UCL for producing a beam of Ps atoms, together with a review of recent advances, may be found in [41]. In brief, the Ps beam is produced by charge-exchange of positrons (e + ) with a target gas (A), i.e. e + + A → Ps + A + , and detected downstream by a channel-electronmultiplier (CEM or CEMA) in coincidence with one or more γ-ray detectors (e.g. CsI or NaI) where it has been found to be composed predominantly of groundstate atoms [42,43].Depending on the relative spin orientation of its constituents, ground-state Ps may be formed in an ortho-( 3 S 1 ) or para-( 1 S 0 ) state. The two are characterized by lifetimes differing by three orders of magnitude (142 ns and 125 ps, respectively) and different annihilation modes (dominantly 3-γ and 2-γ, respectively). Only ortho-Ps reaches the detection region.In order to determine dQPs dΩ (a measure of the probability that Ps is emitted within a solid angle dΩ = 2πsinθdθ), we have measured the number of Ps atoms (ε where τ Ps is the lifetime of ortho-Ps, t its flight-time to the detector and ǫ Ps the 'true' Ps beam production efficiency. In Eq.(1), ǫ m Ps may be seen to depend on the (energy-dependent) ratio of the positron to positronium detection efficiencies R d also determined by our group [38][39][40].By studying the variation of ǫ Ps with gas pressure, optimum beam operating conditions may be determined for a given target and Ps energy [39,40,44,45]. An example is shown in Figure 1 for production of 20 eV Ps from CO 2 . Here ǫ Ps may be seen to increase and then decrease with increasing pressure. This variation may be expressed as:
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