Critical binding and electron scattering by symmetric-top polar molecules.

Abstract

Quantum treatments of electron interactions with polar symmetric-top rotor molecules show features not present in the treatment of the linear-polar-rotor model. For symmetric tops possessing non-zero angular momentum about the symmetry axis, a new critical dipole can be defined that guarantees an infinite set of dipole-bound states independent of the values of the components of the inertial tensor. Additionally, for this same class, the scattering cross section diverges for all nonzero values of dipole moments and inertial moments, similar to solutions for the fixed linear dipole. Additional predictions are presented for electron affinities and rotational resonances of these systems.