Interpretation of low-energy electron-CO2 scattering -: art. no. 032720

Recent ab initio calculations of low-energy electron-CO2 scattering [Rescigno , Phys. Rev. A 65, 032716 (2002)] are interpreted using an analytically solvable model. The model, which treats two partial-wave Hamiltonians with different l values coupled by a long-range (d/r(2)) interaction, is a generalization of similar single-channel models that have previously been used to interpret the low-energy behavior of electron scattering by polar diatomic molecules. The present model is used to track the pole trajectories of both resonances and virtual states, both of which figure prominently in low-energy electron-CO2 scattering, in the plane of complex momentum. The connection between resonant and virtual states is found to display a different topology in the case of a polyatomic molecule than it does in diatomic molecules. In a polyatomic molecule, these states may have a conical intersection and consequently acquire a Berry phase along closed paths in two-dimensional vibrational motion. The analytic behavior of the S matrix is further modified by the presence of a geometry-dependent dipole moment.