Positron Scattering and Annihilation with Atoms and Molecules including Emerging New Resonances and their Applications in other Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The low energy positron collisions and annihilation on atoms and molecules has had a long and very successful research record in both theoretical and experimental fronts. At energy above the positronium formation threshold, the progress was limited due to the inability to distinguish the direct positron annihilation from that due to positronium formation. This problem is solved beginning with the three-body scattering systems using the multi-channel Faddeev-Merkuriev equation (MFE). The complete solution of a six-open channel (S-partial wave) positron collision with hydrogen atom system provided detail information of the structures of resonances. Two types of resonances exist in this region. One type is identified as the well known Feshbach resonances. The second type has been identified to have a much different formation mechanism. It is named the Gailitis resonances. A series of Gailitis resonances occur when the incoming charged particle and the target atom with electric moments become correlated at certain distances via the internal Stark-effect. The life-time of these resonances can be very long when the center of mass collision energy is small. Such long-lived long range correlation can produce interesting physical effects. An earlier six-open channel, S-partial waves calculation showed enhanced anti-hydrogen formation cross section from the incoming channel anti-proton + positronium atom around the energy region of the Gailitis resonances. Recent theoretical calculation indicated the Gailitis resonance is able to provide an alternative route to muon catalyzed fusion. Low energy nuclear fusion can be explained when the condition for the formation of Gailitis resonance exists. The physical mechanism involved in the formation of Gailitis resonance is the universal Stark-effect. This Special Issue hopes to bring awareness of the Gailitis resonance to the larger physics communities. We invite authors to submit articles from all areas of physics.

Dr. Chiyu Hu
Dr. Anand K. Bhatia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atoms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.