We have found theoretically, for the first time, that vibrational excitations of a CO 2 molecule by electron ͑e 2 ͒ and positron ͑e 1 ͒ impacts are strongly dependent on the charge of the projectile at impact energy below 6 eV. For the symmetric-stretching mode, the excitation cross section of e 2 impact is larger by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude than that of e 1 impact, while for bending and asymmetric-stretching modes the magnitude of both cross sections for e 2 and e 1 impacts is nearly comparable. These results are qualitatively confirmed experimentally, and are interpreted as the difference of interactions and incident e 2 or e 1 wave functions. [S0031-9007(98)05939-0] PACS numbers: 34.80. Gs, A comparative study of electron ͑e 2 ͒ and positron ͑e 1 ͒ scattering from atoms, molecules, and condensed matter is known to provide a fundamental knowledge of underlying physics for electronic structure and scattering dynamics, and hence, is important for atomic physics, condensed matter physics, and nuclear physics [1]. In addition, this knowledge helps in understanding physics for other collision processes which involve different types of exotic particles. Total cross sections by e 1 impact on atoms and molecules are known to give smaller values than those for e 2 impact below about 100 eV to a few eV region, and this feature has been interpreted as a result of cancellation of static and polarization potentials for e 1 impact while these potentials are added up, along with the additional exchange interaction for e 2 impact, thus causing the stronger interaction. For specific inelastic processes, unfortunately, very few systematic studies by e 1 impact have been performed for gaseous targets, and a detailed comparative study between e 2 and e 1 impact is virtually nonexistent except for some preliminary investigation of experimental results for raregas atoms and simple molecules [2]. Only recently, Gianturco and colleagues [3(a)] have carried out a careful study on e 1 scattering from CO 2 molecule for elastic as well as vibrational excitation processes for the symmetric stretching mode, and have compared it with their previous study [3(b)] for e 2 scattering in order to shed some light on the coupling mechanism.Earlier in our study [4], we have observed that the total cross section for CO 2 for e 2 impact is indeed larger by 40% than that for e 1 impact below 100 eV or so, and continues to be so until the impact energy reaches down to 3 eV. Below 3 eV, however, the magnitude of the cross section is found to reverse, i.e., the total cross section for e 1 impact becomes larger by 25%, although it reverses again at much lower energy around 0.5 eV. At the time, we speculated a possible cause for this phenomena as being due to anomalously large cross sections for either rotational or vibrational excitation, or both for e 1 scattering. An exploratory study for rotational excitations by both projectiles was reported some time ago by Takayanagi and Inokuti [5] based on the Born approximation, who showed that for a molecule wi...