MOMENTUM DISTRIBUTION OF METALLIC ELECTRONS BY POSITRON ANNIHILATION

The angular correlation of photons from the two-photon decay of positrons has been measured for positrons annihilating in some 34 elements, mostly metals. These data give the momentum distribution of photons and hence of the center of mass of the annihilating electron–positron pairs. The momentum distributions are discussed in terms of the velocity dependence of the annihilation probability. It is concluded that the observed momentum distributions are primarily the momentum distributions of the conduction electrons in the metals. A higher momentum component is observed, which is attributed to ion core effects.