Positron scattering and ionization of neon atoms — theoretical investigations

Abstract

Although positron scattering with inert gas atoms has been studied in theory as well as in experiment, there are discrepancies. The present work reports all the major total cross sections of e+—neon scattering at incident energies above ionization threshold, originating from a complex potential formalism. Elastic and cumulative inelastic scatterings are treated in the complex spherical e+—atom potential. Our total inelastic cross section includes positronium formation together with ionization and excitation channels in Ne. Because of the Ps formation channel it is difficult to separate out ionization cross sections from the total inelastic cross sections. An approximate method similar to electron—atom scattering has been applied to bifurcate ionization and cumulative excitation cross sections at energies from threshold to 2000 eV. Comparisons of present results with available data are made. An important outcome of this work is the relative contribution of different scattering processes, which we have shown by a bar-chart at the ionization peak.