COMPETITION BETWEEN DIRECT DISSOCIATION AND RESONANT AUGER DECAY - A QUASI-CLASSICAL MODEL APPLIED TO THE 2P(-1)SIGMA-ASTERISK STATES OF HCL, DCL AND CL-2

Resonant Auger spectra of HCl, DCl, and Cl-2 following the (Cl2p(3/2)) 3/2) --> sigma excitation were studied. Both 'molecular' and 'atomic' Auger transitions are observed and assigned. The branching ratio of ' molecular' versus 'atomic' Auger transitions increases with increasing reduced mass of the target molecules. Using a quasi-classical model, we are able to deduce the principal Auger lineshape in agreement with experiment. The simultaneous occurrence of 'atomic' and 'molecular' Au ger transitions is shown to be the general case for repulsive intermed iate states. The kinematic model successfully describes the mass and l ifetime dependence of the competition between the Auger process and di ssociation.