- McCurdy, CW;
- Rescigno, TN;
- Trevisan, CS;
- Lucchese, RR;
- Gaire, B;
- Menssen, A;
- Schöffler, MS;
- Gatton, A;
- Neff, J;
- Stammer, PM;
- Rist, J;
- Eckart, S;
- Berry, B;
- Severt, T;
- Sartor, J;
- Moradmand, A;
- Jahnke, T;
- Landers, AL;
- Williams, JB;
- Ben-Itzhak, I;
- Dörner, R;
- Belkacem, A;
- Weber, Th
A dramatic symmetry breaking in K-shell photoionization of the CF4 molecule in which a core-hole vacancy is created in one of four equivalent fluorine atoms is displayed in the molecular frame angular distribution of the photoelectrons. Observing the photoejected electron in coincidence with an F+ atomic ion after Auger decay is shown to select the dissociation path where the core hole was localized almost exclusively on that atom. A combination of measurements and ab initio calculations of the photoelectron angular distribution in the frame of the recoiling CF3+ and F+ atoms elucidates the underlying physics that derives from the Ne-like valence structure of the F(1s-1) core-excited atom.