Elastic positron-cadmium scattering at low energies

Abstract

The elastic and annihilation cross sections for positron-cadmium scattering are reported up to the positronium-formation threshold (at 2.2 eV). The low-energy phase shifts for the elastic scattering of positrons from cadmium were derived from the bound and pseudostate energies of a very large basis configuration-interaction calculation of the e+-Cd system. The s-wave binding energy is estimated to be 126±42 meV, with a scattering length of Ascat=(14.2±2.1)a0, while the threshold annihilation parameter, Zeff, was 93.9±26.5. The p-wave phase shift exhibits a weak shape resonance that results in a peak Zeff of 91±17 at a collision energy of about 490±50 meV