The multielectron character of the S 2p -> 4eg shape resonance in the SF6 molecule studied via detection of soft X-ray emission and neutral high-Rydberg fragments

We have studied the nature of the S 2p -> 4egshape resonance in the SF6molecule by performing twodifferent experiments. Soft X-ray emission spectra measured at the 4egshape resonance reveal featuresthat do not originate from the S 2p-1states. One of the features can be assigned to the 6a1g-> S 2ptransition. The 6a1gorbital, which is empty in the molecular ground state, can be populated either incore-valence double excitations or in S 2p shake-up transitions. Both these channels are considered.We have also studied the fragmentation of SF6molecule after the decay of the S 2p core-hole states byobserving neutral fragments in high-Rydberg states, where an electron occupies an orbital with n >= 20(n is the principal quantum number). Such neutral fragments become, in relative terms, more abundantat the S 2p -> 4egshape resonance with respect to the S 2p -> 2t2gshape resonance, which is a pureone-electron phenomenon