Multiple Electron Excitation in Auger Processes

Abstract

Consideration of the Auger effect as a polyelectron phenomenon leads to the expectation of an accumulation of a greater charge on an atom, as the result of an Auger cascade, than that obtainable by the conventional two-electron theory. On this basis, calculations are made of the probability for the accumulation of large charges by chlorine atoms originally possessing a $K$ vacancy. The theoretical results correlate well with the recent experimental measurements of the charge distribution of the chlorine atoms produced by the electron-capture decay of argon-37.