Positron Chemistry by Quantum Monte Carlo

Abstract

Positronic compounds represent a unique family of systems whose chemical and physical properties are tightly related to the correlated motion of positrons and electrons. For this class of systems, standard ab initio quantum chemistry methods are often of little use in computing observables. Starting from this observation, we present quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods as an useful and accurate set of tools to study the leptonic structure of positronic atoms and molecules. Moreover, we show the information that can be routinely obtained from Monte Carlo simulations presenting specific examples and applications to atoms and molecules. Finally, an overview of the directions that we feel are worth pursuing is given.