J. Zobeley et al., Intermolecular Coulombic decay of molecular clusters: Identification of the decay mechanism using a new hole-population analysis, J PHYS CH A, 103(50), 1999, pp. 11145-11160
Singly ionized states of molecular clusters with an inner-valence vacancy h
ave recently been shown to undergo an efficient electronic decay. The mecha
nism of the decay, which is absent in the isolated molecules that build up
the clusters, is proposed to be of intermolecular Coulombic nature. As expl
icit example to further investigate this new decay process, the valence ion
ization spectrum of the HF(H2O)(2) cluster is computed with the ADC(3) one-
particle Green's function method. in the inner valence part of the spectrum
, characteristic dense line bundles due to the ultrafast electronic decay o
f the corresponding cationic states are observed. A new hole-population ana
lysis method for the very many computed cationic states is presented. This
method allows for a quantitative measure and characterization of the hole l
ocalization pattern of the cationic states. The dense line bundles which mi
mic the continuous decay distributions in our finite basis set approach are
analyzed in detail. The resulting intermolecular character of the states c
onfirms the recently proposed intermolecular Coulombic mechanism for the el
ectronic decay in molecular clusters. The decay leads to dicationic states
with two vacancies located on neighboring monomer units.