Rigorous electron affinity determination of complex heavy atoms and fullerene molecules

TL;DR

This paper uses Regge-pole calculations of low-energy electron scattering to accurately determine electron affinities of complex heavy atoms and fullerenes, addressing ambiguities in their interpretation.

Contribution

It introduces a method to extract electron binding energies from total cross sections, clarifying the meaning of electron affinities in complex atomic systems.

Findings

Identification of shape resonances and Ramsauer-Townsend minima in TCSs

Extraction of anionic binding energies from scattering data

Clarification of the relationship between EAs and BEs in complex systems

Abstract

Regge-pole calculated low-energy electron elastic total cross sections (TCSs) for complex heavy atoms and fullerene molecules are characterized generally by ground, metastable, and excited negative-ion formation, shape resonances and Ramsauer-Townsend minima. Here the extracted anionic binding energies (BEs) from the TCSs of various atoms and fullerenes are used to highlight the ambiguous meaning of some current electron affinities (EAs) of heavy complex atomic systems. The crucial question is: does the EA correspond to the BE of the attached electron in the ground or excited state of the formed anion during the collision?