Chemistry and Light Theme Departmental Seminar

Molecular processes involving the electronic continuum are important from an applied perspective; they also provide insight into fundamental ideas in quantum mechanics. I will describe how we use the R-matrix method  (and its computational implementation) to model low energy electron scattering from and photoionization of molecules. I will review the successes of the approach as well as the current challenges.  I will also discuss what happens when the molecule of interest is not isolated: the presence of an environment can, for example, lead to interatomic Coulomb electron capture. This is a scattering process that has hardly been investigated but that may actually play an important role in phenomena like radiation induced damage.