Theoretical study of (e, 2e) triple-differential cross sections for DNA component ionization by electrons and positrons

Abstract

We report in this work a theoretical study of the electron- and positron-induced ionization of DNA components, namely, the thymine and the tetrahydrofuran (THF) molecules. Triply differential cross sections (TDCSs) are calculated in a coplanar geometry by using the second order distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA2). The current calculations exhibit a satisfactory agreement with the experimental measurements performed at a projectile energy E0 = 250 eV for electron impact ionization of specific target orbitals of thymine and THF. Besides, significant differences were observed between electron and positron TDCSs.