The role of vibrational doorway states in positron annihilation with large molecules

Abstract

Positron annihilation rates in many polyatomic molecular gases are anomalously high. Qualitatively, this can be explained by positron capture in vibrational Feshbach resonances, which can occur for molecules with positive positron affinities [Gribakin, Phys. Rev. A 61 (2000) 022720]. To verify this idea quantitatively, we examine the densities of vibrational excitation spectra of alkanes. To understand the energy dependence of the annihilation rates for alkanes, we propose that positron capture is mediated by vibrational doorway states, in which positron binding is accompanied by the excitation of fundamentals.