The character of the Xe 4p → nl resonances studied with the aid of their Auger decay

Theoretical predictions for the Xe 4p → nl photoexcitation are shown to depend strongly on the gauge and wavefunctions used in calculations. In order to test the theory, the resonant Auger decay of the Xe 4p^-1 nl states has been measured with high photon and electron energy resolution using the Finnish beamline at MAX-lab in Lund. Sweden. The character of the 4p^-1 nl excited states is investigated by comparing the observed intensity distributions of the transitions to the 4d^-15p^-1nl states with the results of multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculations. As the fine structure of resonant Auger transitions is sensitive to the nature of the spectator electron, the spectra are useful for the assignment of the resonant photoabsorption peaks which do not show any characteristics of the excited electron.