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We report on recent cross section results for positron scattering from molecular oxygen (O2). Total cross sections (TCSs) were measured with a positron spectrometer in the energy range from 0.1 to 50 eV and with an energy resolution of the positron beam of ∼0.25 eV. In addition, TCSs as well as elastic and inelastic integral cross sections were computed within the independent atom model and screening corrected additivity rule approach, with both dipole and dipole plus quadrupole polarization potentials, between 1 and 1000 eV impact energy. An overall fair level of accord is found between the experimental TCS and that calculated with the model that includes the quadrupole term. Comparison to earlier measurements shows very good agreement with the present measured TCS and fair agreement with the TCS computed with our most physical model above ∼8 eV. Conversely, we find only a marginal level of accord when comparing our experimental TCS with previous computations, while the present TCS calculated with the dipole plus quadrupole potentials appears to agree reasonably well with most of the existing theoretical results above ∼100 eV.

In this paper we report original measurements of total cross sections for positron scattering from the important biomolecule pyrimidine. The energy range of these measurements was 0.3–45 eV, while the energy resolution was ∼260 meV. In addition, we report theoretical results, calculated within the independent atom–screened additivity rule (IAM-SCAR) formalism, for the corresponding electron impact total cross sections. In that case the energy range is 1–10 000 eV. Total cross sections are very important input data for codes that seek to simulate charged-particle tracks in matter, as they define the mean-free path between collisions. As the present data and computations are to the best of our knowledge the first total cross sections to be reported for either positron or electron scattering from pyrimidine, they fill an important void in our available knowledge in the literature.