Trapping of an electron due to molecular vibrations

Here we first show that the nuclear motion of H-2(-) generates a continuum of autoionization resonance states. The interference between them increases the lifetime of the trapped electron in the e(-)/H-2 scattering experiments and leads to asymmetric oscillations in the phase of the excitation probability amplitude. This collective coherent interference resonance phenomenon is very different from any known mechanism in quantum mechanics which reveals the fingerprints of overlapping resonances in scattering cross section and results from the non-Hermitian properties of the H-2(-) Hamiltonian.