Dissociative electron attachment to SO2 near 7.5 eV resonance and axial-recoil approximation

Abstract

Abstract We present experimental results for dissociative electron attachment to sulfur dioxide near the 7.5 eV resonance. The dissociation channels leading to O−, S− and SO− ions formation have been investigated with a velocity map imaging technique. While the O− and SO− ions formed by dissociative electron attachment show angular distributions characteristic to a combination of A1+B2 symmetry, the S− ions show angular distributions resulting from changes in the orientation of the dissociating bond due to bending mode vibrations implying the failure of axial-recoil approximation.