Eur. Phys. J. D 51, 51-61 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00188-9

Positron annihilation in large polyatomic molecules. The role of vibrational Feshbach resonances and binding

Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK

Corresponding author: ^a g.gribakin@qub.ac.uk

Received: 25 March 2008
Revised: 8 June 2008
Published online: 3 October 2008

Abstract

We analyse the process of rapid positron annihilation in large polyatomic molecules due to positron capture into vibrational Feshbach resonances. Resonant annihilation occurs in molecules which can bind positrons, and we analyse positron binding to alkanes using zero-range potentials. Related questions of spectra of annihilation gamma quanta and molecular fragmentation following annihilation, are discussed briefly.