Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 23: Resonant Energy Transfer and Interatomic Coulombic Decay II
MO 23.6: Talk
Friday, March 9, 2018, 11:45–12:00, PA 1.150
Interatomic Coulombic Decay in Real-Life — •Robert Bennett1, Joshua Leo Hemmerich1, and Stefan Yoshi Buhmann1,2 — 1University of Freiburg, Germany — 2Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Freiburg, Germany
Interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) is a mechanism by which energy can be very rapidly redistributed between molecular systems. The ICD process includes production of a free electron, which is normally of relatively low energy. These `slow' electrons can cause damage to biological systems, in particular to DNA. Biological processes of course take place outside the idealised conditions studied so far in ICD, rather proceeding in non-trivial environments such as those found in solvent media, near a cell membrane or in a molecular chain.
In this talk I will present a newly-developed theory of ICD based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics in media that naturally takes into account the effects of the environment, as well as those of relativistic retardation. It will be shown that orders-of-magnitude enhancement of the rate can be missed by ignoring retardation, and that the rate can be significantly enhanced or suppressed depending on the orientation of the decaying system relative to a nearby surface.