Differential Studies of Argon Particle and Antiparticle Interactions: Present Status and Future Possibilities

Although the comparison of fully differential ionization data for particle and antiparticle impact provides the ultimate tests of theoretical models, only very low antiparticle beam intensities are available. Hence, few experiments of this type have been performed. Therefore, available experimentally obtained single and double differential cross-sections, which are much easier to obtain, are compared in order to demonstrate differences when only the projectile mass or charge (+1 or −1) is changed. Included in the comparison are cross-sections calculated for positron and electron impact using a three-particle classical trajectory Monte Carlo method. The calculated cross-sections provide independent information about the ejected electron and the scattered projectile contributions, plus information about the impact parameters, all as functions of the collision kinematics. From these comparisons, suggestions as to where future investigations are both feasible and useful are provided.