Eur. Phys. J. D (2017) 71: 253
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2017-80064-3

Regular Article

MCDF calculations of Auger cascade processes^*

¹ Helmholtz-Institut Jena, Fröbelstieg 3, 07743 Jena, Germany
² Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany

^a e-mail: randolf.beerwerth@uni-jena.de

Received: 30 January 2017
Received in final form: 14 June 2017
Published online: 17 October 2017

Abstract

We model the multiple ionization of near-neutral core-excited atoms where a cascade of Auger processes leads to the emission of several electrons. We utilize the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method to generate approximate wave functions for all fine-structure levels and to account for all decays between them. This approach allows to compute electron spectra, the population of final-states and ion yields, that are accessible in many experiments. Furthermore, our approach is based on the configuration interaction method. A careful treatment of correlation between electronic configurations enables one to model three-electron processes such as an Auger decay that is accompanied by an additional shake-up transition. Here, this model is applied to the triple ionization of atomic cadmium, where we show that the decay of inner-shell 4p holes to triply-charged final states is purely due to the shake-up transition of valence 5s electrons.