Abstract
Processes induced by the attachment of slow electrons to formic acid and its hydrogen-bonded dimer were studied. The elastic cross section and the cross section for the excitation of low quanta of discrete vibrations were found to be of a similar magnitude for both targets. A dramatic difference was found in the excitation of a vibrational quasicontinuum in the 1–2 eV range with the ejection of very slow electrons (), which was about more intense in the dimer. The association of two formic acid molecules to form a dimer thus dramatically increases the power to quasithermalize electrons arriving with energies in the 1–2 eV energy range. Rapid electron-driven intracluster proton transfer is invoked to explain the observation.
- Received 22 November 2006
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.123201
©2007 American Physical Society