Assignment of the L2,3VV normal Auger decay spectrum of Cl2 by ab initio calculations

Auger decay processes of the Cl 2p ionized states have been studied in Cl2 by means of high-resolution electron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. This led to reassignment of the normal L2,3VV Auger decay spectrum of Cl2. The reliability of this assignment is strongly supported by an independent measurement of the L2,3VV Auger electron spectrum of Cl2 which has been obtained after selective photoionization of the chlorine molecule. Partial Auger transition rates for the three nongenerate spin-orbit and molecular-field-split 2p-1 states show differences similar to the ones reported in previous works for HCl.