A theoretical analysis is performed of the phenomenon of anisotropic magnetic quenching of a positronium atom formed by polarized positrons in noncubic crystals oriented with respect to an external magnetic field. An initial polarization of positrons is shown to enhance an anisotropy of Ps magnetic quenching and to decrease the strength of magnetic field in which an anisotropy is maximal. A maximal anisotropic effect has been estimated for quasi-Ps in crystalline quartz and Ps complex in naphthalene single crystal.
The role of nonpolar optic phonon scattering and of umklapp acoustic phonon scattering is analyzed for a delocalized positronium atom in ionic crystals at elevated temperatures. At temperatures above which they become essential both of these scattering mechanisms contribute to the imaginary self-energy of positronium renormalizing its acoustic deformation potential constant. It was such a renormalization that was recently observed experimentally for delocalized positronium in MgF_2 crystal. We put forward the theoretical explanation of these experiments based upon the model of nonpolar optic phonon scattering of positronium. An effect analogous to that observed in MgF_2 is predicted for crystalline quartz above the temperature of (α-β)-phase transition.
We give a review of recent theoretical and experimental study of the positronium-phonon and positronium-quadrupole interactions in dielectric crystals of different local symmetries, placing a special emphasis on the sensitivity of the positronium momentum distribution to the second order phase transitions in crystalline dielectrics.
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