Scaling of plane-wave born cross sections for positron-impact excitations of He and H2

• A study using the scaling Born approximation for positron is proposed.
• The mechanism is new with treatment of electronic excitations of atoms and molecules.
• Cross sections are qualitatively explored using the scaling Born model.
• The results are accurate with sophisticated theories and experimental data.

The scaling method applied to the plane-wave Born cross sections using electron-impact excitation of atoms (Y. Kim, Phys. Rev. A 64, 032713 (2001)) was modified for positron-impact excitations of atoms and molecules. The scaling method presented earlier using electrons as particles of incidence offers a simple yet effective tool to calculate such cross sections. We will consider here the scaling for positron scattering with relatively small amount of computational effort. The scaling Born method proposed depends on two atom (molecule) properties as the values of positronium energy and excitation energy. Numerical examples of integral inelastic cross sections of He (21P, 31P, and 41P) and H2(X1∑g+ -> B1 ∑u+) states using the new analytical representation are presented to illustrate the applicability of the improved scaling Born method for positron scattering.