Vibrational-Resonance Enhancement of Positron Annihilation in Molecules

The rate of annihilation of low-energy positrons in many molecular gases is orders of magnitude larger than can be explained on the basis of simple collisions. Developments in positron beam technology have enabled the first energy-resolved measurements of this annihilation process. The results of these experiments provide direct evidence that the large observed values of annihilation rate are due to the excitation of long-lived vibrational resonances of the positron-molecule complex. These results are generally consistent with a recent theoretical model of resonant annihilation.