State selectivity in core ionization of methane

A clear experimental signature of the population of the lowest triplet state ^{3}T_{1} of the methane dication is identified in a photoionization experiment. This state is populated only in valence ionization and is absent when the dication is formed by core ionization followed by Auger-Meitner deca...

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Main Authors: J. Rajput, J. Stindl, A. Cassimi, B. Gervais, M. Kircher, G. Kastirke, O. D. McGinnis, R. Enoki, J. B. Williams, V. Davis, R. Saha, S. Kumar, O. Kostko, M. Shaikh, Th. Weber, D. S. Slaughter, N. Iwamoto, C. Bagdia, I. Ben-Itzhak, M. S. Schöffler, C. P. Safvan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-04-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L022021
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Summary:A clear experimental signature of the population of the lowest triplet state ^{3}T_{1} of the methane dication is identified in a photoionization experiment. This state is populated only in valence ionization and is absent when the dication is formed by core ionization followed by Auger-Meitner decay. For valence ionization, the total internal energy of the CH_{3}^{+} fragment, formed during the deprotonation of CH_{4}^{2+}, is evaluated. Notably, the distribution of this internal energy peaks at the same value regardless of the initially populated electronic state of CH_{4}^{2+}. We find that excited electronic states of CH_{3}^{+} are predominantly populated with significant rovibrational excitation.
ISSN:2643-1564