Angular correlation in positron annihilation

The angular correlation of the two gamma quanta emitted when a thermalized positron annihilates with metallic conduction electrons is investigated by applying the newly developed theory of electron gas as a system of interacting collective excitations. The method leads in a natural way to the appearance of high-momentum components (i.e. pair momentum p>psub(F) in the annihilation radiation already in the case of annihilation with conduction electrons only. The amount of these components is significant approximately (10 %) in a dilute electron gas (like alkali metals), but fairly irrelevant for higher densities. The momentum-dependence of the enhancement factor for a dense system (with rsub(s) approximately equal to 2) agrees well both with the earlier theories due to Kahana and others, and also with recent accurate experimental observations. As rsub(s) increases into the alkali-metal region, the enhancement factor for p<psub(F) becomes relatively more and more constant, in contrast with the trend in the Kahana theory. In this density regime the experimental results seem to vary widely, although most of them desagree with the present prediction. We discuss the possible discrepancy and try to account for the effects of the core annihilation by a simple model. (author)