Positron collisions by methane and monosilane molecules below 10 eV.

Abstract

Positron-CH/sub 4/ (and position-SiH/sub 4/) are studied at low collision energies (E<10 eV) by employing a parameter-free model potential constructed within the one-center-expansion formalism of the full interaction. The obtained potential is in turn employed in a close-coupling treatment of the quantum-mechanical scattering equations that are solved within the fixed-nuclei approximation to yield the full K matrix. The all-important polarization of the target plays here a fundamental role in generating the final elastic integral cross sections below the threshold of the positronium formation, where the present results can be compared with the available experimental data and with other theoretical predictions.