Bond Breaking, Electron Pushing, and Proton Pulling: Active and Passive Roles in the Interaction between Aqueous Ions and Water as Manifested in the O 1s Auger Decay
A core-ionized H(2)O molecule in liquid water primarily relaxes through normal Auger decay, leading to a two-hole final state in which both valence holes are localized on the same water molecule. Electronic coupling to the environment, however, allows for alternative decays resembling Intermolecular Coulombic Decay (ICD), producing final states with one of the holes delocalized on a neighboring wa