Errors in the application of the JWKB method to calculating the survival factor in dissociative electron attachment using the local complex potential.

The accuracy of the JWKB method for determining the survival factor defined for dissociative electron attachment (DEA) processes is examined for a range of electronic resonance lifetimes within the local complex potential approximation. The author concludes that the accuracy is inadequate for molecules with properties commonly found for shape resonance induced DEA. More accurate methods using the uniform Airy function approximation give much better results, but the direct numerical integration of Schrodinger's equation appears simpler still.