https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-026-01209-9
Research - Atoms, Molecules, Ions, and Clusters
Interference effects in the ionization of 
and 
molecules, and helium atom by electron and positron impact
1
Department of Physics, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, 700103, Narendrapur, Kolkata, India
2
School of Physical Science, Indian Institute of Technology, 175005, Kamand, Mandi, India
a
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Received:
9
April
2026
Accepted:
11
June
2026
Published online:
2
July
2026
Abstract
We present the angular distribution of electron emission by calculating the triple differential cross sections (TDCS) for the collision of electron and positron with N
and H molecules. We use the three-body formalism of the molecular three-Coulomb wave with (M3CW*) and without (M3CW) the interference factor, respectively. In these models, the incoming electron and positron are represented by a Coulomb-distorted wave that incorporates its interaction with the target. In the case of N molecule, the TDCS exhibits oscillatory behavior with the variation in the electron ejection angle for different kinematic conditions. The positions of the binary peak obtained by our theoretical models are well established by the experimental findings, but a deviation is found in the region of the recoil peak. The contributions of TDCS for different orbitals of the molecule to the spectrum of angular distributions at different electron emission energies have also been analyzed. One of our prime motivation is to study the effect of sign of the projectile charge on the TDCS spectrum for N molecule. A different angular distribution of electron emission is found for the valence states of the molecule because of their s- and p-type characters. We further analyze how the final state interaction influences the angular distribution of the ejected electron as a function of momentum transfer for the H molecule. Finally, a comparison is made with the measurements in coplanar asymmetry geometry. Overall, good agreement is found between experiments and the present M3CW* theory. Finally, for better understanding of the angular distribution for two homonuclear molecules a surface plot of the TDCS is shown for both the molecules at 250 eV impact energy and 50 eV electron ejection energy.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
