Orientation-dependent retarding force of a three-dimensional degenerate electron gas for slow homonuclear trimers

Abstract

A theoretical study is presented on the orientation-dependent retarding force experienced by a slow homonuclear linear trimer moving at arbitrary alignment with the direction of its flight in a three-dimensional degenerate electron gas of metallic densities. We apply a standard multiple-scattering method for elastic scattering of independent electrons off a three-center system in a screening environment. These centers are modeled by short-range auxiliary potentials and thus they are characterized by an effective s-type phase shift η. Within this framework for the orientation-dependent retarding force, the interplay of wave interference and multiple scattering is analyzed in a comparative manner for a realistic set of the input parameters. By allowing a restricted variation in the polar angle between the linear multicenter orientation and its velocity direction, a reasonable agreement with data obtained by a slow carbon trimer is established.