Calculations of positron scattering from small molecules

Abstract

Recently, convergent close-coupling calculations have been completed for positron scattering from the carbon and oxygen atomic targets. These, together with previously completed calculations for atomic hydrogen, are utilized to perform positron scattering calculations for molecular hydrogen ($$\hbox {H}_2$$ H 2 ), molecular oxygen ($$\hbox {O}_2$$ O 2 ), diatomic carbon ($$\hbox {C}_2$$ C 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide ($$\hbox {CO}_2$$ CO 2 ), ozone ($$\hbox {O}_3$$ O 3 ), water ($$\hbox {H}_2\hbox {O}$$ H 2 O ), and methane ($$\hbox {CH}_4$$ CH 4 ) through a modified independent atom approach. For these molecules, positronium-formation, direct ionization, electron-loss, elastic, total electronic excitation, total inelastic, and total cross sections are obtained for energies between 0.1 and 5000 eV. There is, in general, good agreement between the current results and past experiments for most transitions, particularly at high energies where this approach is expected to be most accurate. Graphic Abstract