We report the results of a joint experimental {and} theoretical study of dissociative electron attachment to formic acid (HCOOH) in the 6-9 eV region, where H$^-$ fragment ions are a dominant product. Breaking of the CH and OH bonds is distinguished experimentally by deuteration of either site. We show that in this region H$^-$ ions can be produced by formation of two {or possibly three} Feshbach resonance (doubly-excited anion) states, one of which leads to either C-H or O-H bond scission, while the other can only produce formyloxyl radicals by O-H bond scission. Comparison of experimental and theoretical angular distributions of the anion fragment allows the elucidation of state specific pathways to dissociation.
In this paper, we discuss the dissociative electron attachment process in Formic Acid and Propyl Amine. These are molecules containing more than one functional group and have low symmetry (Cs group). We measured the kinetic energy and angular distributions of fragment H^{-} ions from the resonances observed in these molecules and compared with that in the precursor molecules, namely - Water, Ammonia and Methane. Measurements suggest that the dissociation dynamics in bigger molecules are independent of overall symmetry of the molecule, rather depend only on the local symmetry of functional grou…
In the present paper, we report the details of the kinetic energy and angular distributions of the H^{-}, S^{-}/SH^{-} fragment ions produced due to dissociative electron attachment in H_{2}S molecules at resonances peaking at 2.2 eV, 5.2 eV, 7.5 eV and 10 eV.
In this paper, we discuss the dissociative electron attachment process in Ammonia. Kinetic energy and angular distributions of H^{-} and NH_{2}^{-} fragment anions across the two well known resonances at 5.5 eV and 10.5 eV are reported. The angular distributions show deviation of axial recoil approximation akin to that observed in water.
In this paper, we discuss the dissociative electron attachment process in Methane. Kinetic energy and angular distributions of H^{-} and CH_{2}^{-} fragment anions across the broad resonance about 10 eV is reported. Angular distribution of H^{-} ions changes from being perpendicular to forward-backward scattering across the resonance. Possibility of Jahn-Teller effect on excitation of the triply degenerate 1t2 molecular orbital is inferred.
Momentum imaging measurements from two experiments are presented and interpreted with the aid of new ab initio theoretical calculations to describe the dissociative electron attachment (DEA) dynamics. We address the problem of how the 4 eV ^2Π_u shape resonance in CO_2 proceeds to dissociate to CO(^1Σ^+) + O^-(^2P) by DEA.
Stereo-dynamics of dissociative electron attachments to CO_2 is investigated by the O^- anion velocity imaging experiments combined with the R-matrix calculations. ^2Π_g as a Feshbach resonant state of CO_2^- is confirmed to play roles in the dissociations around 8.0 eV. We find that the dynamic evolutions of the Renner-Teller effect lead to the dramatically different anisotropic O^- momentum distributions.
We present a study of dissociative electron attachment and vibrational excitation processes in electron collisions with the CF$_3$Cl molecule. The calculations are based on the two-dimensional nuclear dynamics including the C-Cl symmetric stretch coordinate and the CF$_3$ symmetric deformation (umbrella) coordinate. The complex potential energy surfaces are calculated using the ab initio R-matrix method. The results for dissociative attachment and vibrational excitation of the umbrella mode agree quite well with experiment while the cross section for excitation of the C-Cl symmetric stretch vi…
An observed broad resonance peak in dissociative electron attachment (DEA) cross sections to a molecule might be due to either closely lying or overlapping resonances involved in the process. We developed a state-of-the-art experimental approach that enables us to identify unambiguously both the closely lying and the overlapping resonances based on kinetic energy and/or angular distribution measurements of fragment negative ion(s) generated from DEA process. Experimental observations strongly supported by theoretical potential energy curve calculations unambiguously identify previously unresol…
We present experimental results for dissociative electron attachment to acetylene near the 3 eV $^2Π_g$ resonance. In particular, we use an ion-momentum imaging technique to investigate the dissociation channel leading to C$_2$H$^-$ fragments. From our measured ion-momentum results we extract fragment kinetic energy and angular distributions. We directly observe a significant dissociation bending dynamic associated with the formation of the transitory negative ion. In modeling this bending dynamic with \emph{ab initio} electronic structure and fixed-nuclei scattering calculations we obtain goo…
We experimentally probe electron collisions with HC$_3$N in the energy range from 0 to 10 eV with the focus on vibrational excitation and dissociative electron attachment. The vibrational excitation cross sections show a number of resonances which are mode specific: the two dominant $π^*$ resonances are visible in the excitation of all the vibrational modes, however, broad $σ^*$ resonances are visible only in certain bond-stretching vibrational modes. The lower $π^*$ resonance shows a pronounced boomerang structure. Since it overlaps with the threshold peak originating from a long-range electr…
We present the results of calculations defining global, three-dimensional representations of the complex-valued potential-energy surfaces of the doublet B1, doublet A1, and doublet B2 metastable states of the water anion that underlie the physical process of dissociative electron attachment to water. The real part of the resonance energies is obtained from configuration-interaction calculations performed in a restricted Hilbert space, while the imaginary part of the energies (the widths) is derived from complex Kohn scattering calculations. A diabatization is performed on the 2A1 and 2B2 surfa…
Using the velocity map imaging technique, we studied and characterized the process of Dissociative Electron Attachment (DEA) in polyatomic molecules like Water, Hydrogen Sulphide, Ammonia, Methane, Formic Acid and Propyl Amine. We present the details of these studies in a series of 5 articles. In the first article here, we discuss the DEA process in gas phase water ($H_{2}O$ and $D_{2}O$) molecules. Electrons of 6.5 eV, 8.5 eV and 12 eV are captured by water molecules in neutral ground state to form $H_{2}O^{-*}$ ($D_{2}O^{-*}$) resonant states which dissociate into an anion fragment and one o…
In the present study, dissociative electron attachment (DEA) measurements with gas phase HMX, octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine, $C_4H_8N_8O_8$, have been performed by means of a crossed electron-molecular beam experiment. The most intense signals are observed at 46 and 176u and assigned to $NO_{2}^{-}$ and $C_3H_6N_5O_{4}^{-}$, respectively. Anion efficiency curves for 15 negatively charged fragments have been measured in the electron energy region from about 0-20 eV with an energy resolution of ~0.7 eV. Product anions are observed mainly in the low energy region, near 0 eV, ar…
We report the results of a first-principles study of dissociative electron attachment to H2O. The cross sections are obtained from nuclear dynamics calculations carried out in full dimensionality within the local complex potential model by using the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree method. The calculations employ our previously obtained global, complex-valued, potential-energy surfaces for the three (doublet B1, doublet A1, and doublet B2) electronic Feshbach resonances involved in this process. These three metastable states of H2O- undergo several degeneracies, and we incorporate bo…
Succeeding our previous finding about coherent interference of the resonant states of CO^- formed by the low-energy electron attachment [Phys. Rev. A 88, 012708 (2013)], here we provide more evidences of the coherent interference, in particular, we find the state configuration change in the interference with the increase of electron attachment energy by measuring the completely backward distributions of the O^- fragment ion of the temporary CO^- in an energy range 11.3-12.6 eV. Therefore, different pure states, namely, coherent resonances, can be formed when the close-lying resonant states are…
We report a new doorway mechanism for the dissociative electron attachment to genetic materials. The dipole-bound state of the nucleotide anion acts as the doorway for electron capture in the genetic material. The electron gets subsequently transferred to a dissociative σ* type anionic state localized on a sugar-phosphate or a sugar-nucleobase bond, leading to their cleavage. The electron transfer is mediated by the mixing of electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom. The cleavage rate of the sugar-phosphate bond predicted by this new mechanism is higher than that of the sugar-nucleobase bond …
State-by-state cross sections for dissociative electron attachment and electron-impact dissociation for molecular oxygen are computed using ab initio resonance curves calculated with the R-matrix method. When O2 is in its vibrational ground state, the main contribution for both processes comes from the $^2Π_u$ resonance state of $O_2^-$ but with a significant contribution from the $^4Σ$ resonant state. Vibrational excitation leads to an increased contribution from the low-lying $^2Π_{g}$ resonance, greatly increased cross sections for both processes, and the threshold moving to lower energies.…
Kinetic energy and angular distributions of O$^-$ ions formed by dissociative electron attachment to CO molecule have been studied for 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5 eV incident electron energies around the resonance using time sliced velocity map imaging spectrometer. Detailed observations clearly show two separate DEA reactions lead to the formation of O$^{-}$ ions in the ground $^{2}P$ state along with the neutral C atoms in ground $^{3}P$ state and first excited $^{1}D$ state, respectively. Within the axial recoil approximation and involving four partial waves, our angular distribution results…
We report experimental results on three-dimensional momentum imaging measurements of anions generated via dissociative electron attachment to gaseous formamide. From the momentum images, we analyze the angular and kinetic energy distributions for NH$_2^{-}$, O$^{-}$, and H$^{-}$ fragments and discuss the possible electron attachment and dissociation mechanisms for multiple resonances for two ranges of incident electron energies, from 5.3~eV to 6.8~eV, and from 10.0~eV to 11.5~eV. {\it Ab initio} theoretical results for the angular distributions of the NH$_2^{-}$ anion for $\sim$6~eV incident e…
Dissociative electron attachment, that is, the cleavage of chemical bonds induced by low-energy electrons, is difficult to model with standard quantum-chemical methods because the involved anions are not bound but subject to autodetachment. We present here a new computational development for simulating the dynamics of temporary anions on complex-valued potential energy surfaces. The imaginary part of these surfaces describes electron loss, whereas the gradient of the real part represents the force on the nuclei. In our method, the forces are computed analytically based on Hartree-Fock theory w…
We report on a form of gas-phase anion action spectroscopy based on infrared multiple photon electron detachment and subsequent capture of the free electrons by a neutral electron scavenger in a Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometer. This method allows one to obtain background-free spectra of strongly bound anions, for which no dissociation channels are observed. The first gas-phase spectra of acetate and propionate are presented using SF6 as electron scavenger and a free electron laser as source of intense and tunable infrared radiation. To validate the method, w…
We report a computational study of the anion states of the resveratrol (RV) and resorcinol (RS) molecules, also investigating dissociative electron attachment (DEA) pathways. RV has well known beneficial effects in human health, and its antioxidant activity was previously associated with DEA reactions producing H$_2$. Our calculations indicate a valence bound state ($π^*_1$) and four resonances ($π^*_2$ to $π^*_5$) for that system. While the computed thermodynamical thresholds are compatible with DEA reactions producing H$_2$ at 0~eV, the well known mechanism involving vibrational Feshbach res…
Strong Evidence for Formation of Hydroxyl Anion via 2-Particle-1-Hole Feshbach Resonances
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata（印度科学教育研究学院加尔各答分校）；Ashoka University（阿肖卡大学）；Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院物理化学研究所）；University of Kassel（卡塞尔大学）；Center for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences and Technologies, Joint initiative of IIT Tirupati and IISER Tirupati（原子、分子和光学科学与技术中心（泰米尔纳德邦理工学院与泰米尔纳德邦科学教育研究学院联合倡议））
