Study of the molecular structure, ionization spectrum, and electronic wave function of 1,3-butadiene using electron momentum spectroscopy and benchmark Dyson orbital theories

The scope of the present work is to reconcile electron momentum spectroscopy with elementary thermodynamics, and refute conclusions drawn by Saha et al in J. Chem. Phys. 123, 124315 (2005) regarding fingerprints of the gauche conformational isomer of 1,3-butadiene in electron momentum distributions that were experimentally inferred from gas phase $(e,2e)$ measurements on this compound [M. J. Brunger et al, J. Chem. Phys. 108, 1859 (1998)]. Our analysis is based on thorough calculations of one-electron and shake-up ionization spectra employing one-particle Green’s function theory along with the benchmark third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction [ADC(3)] scheme. Accurate spherically averaged electron momentum distributions are correspondingly computed from the related Dyson orbitals. The ionization spectra and Dyson orbital momentum distributions that were computed for the trans-conformer of 1,3-butadiene alone are amply sufficient to quantitatively unravel the shape of all available experimental $(e,2e)$ electron momentum distributions. A comparison of theoretical ADC(3) spectra for the $s$-trans and gauche energy minima with inner- and outer-valence high-resolution photoelectron measurements employing a synchrotron radiation beam [D. M. P. Holland et al, J. Phys. B 29, 3091 (1996)] demonstrates that the gauche structure is incompatible with ionization experiments in high-vacuum conditions and at standard temperatures. On the other hand, outer-valence Green’s function calculations on the $s$-trans energy minimum form and approaching basis set completeness provide highly quantitative insights, within $∼0.2eV$ accuracy, into the available experimental one-electron ionization energies. At last, analysis of the angular dependence of relative $(e,2e)$ ionization intensities nicely confirms the presence of one rather intense $π−2$ $π*+1$ satellite at $∼13.1eV$ in the ionization spectrum of the $s$-trans conformer.