Calculations of gamma-ray spectral profiles of linear alkanes in the positron annihilation process

Highlights: • The study calculates gamma-ray profiles for linear alkanes (n up to 12) quantum mechanically;. • “Profile quality” has been defined as the root-mean square deviation (RMSD) between the theoretical and the experimental results in the entire region of the profile. • Excellent agreement with measurements suggests that the theory model is applicable to predict other alkanes such as heptane (C₇H₁₆) etc. • The study suggested that gamma-ray spectra may be more sensitive to study smaller alkanes (and their isomers), rather than larger alkanes (i.e., n > 12). - Abstract: The positron–electron annihilation gamma-ray spectra of linear alkanes C_nH_2n+2 (n = 1–12) have been studied systematically. A profile quality (PQ) parameter, χ, is introduced to assess the agreement between the obtained theoretical profiles and the experimental measurements in the entire region of energy shift of the spectra. Together with the Doppler shift (Δε) of the gamma-ray spectra, the two parameters, χ and Δε, are able to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the calculated gamma-ray spectra with respect to available experiment. Applying the recently developed docking model, the present study determines the positrophilic electrons for individual alkanes from which the gamma-ray spectral profiles are calculated. The results achieve an excellent agreement with experiment, not only with respect to the Doppler shift, but also with respect to the gamma-ray profiles in the photon energy region up to 5 keV. The study further calculates the gamma-ray spectra of other linear alkanes in the series without available experimental measurements, such as heptane (C₇H₁₆), octane (C₈H₁₈), decane (C₁₀H₂₂) and undecane (C₁₁H₂₄). The results obtained show a dominance of the positrophilic electrons in the lowest occupied valence orbital (LOVO) in the positron–electron annihilation process, in agreement with previous studies