Three-electron collective Auger decay in CH3F

We report on experimental and theoretical study of collective Auger decay of double inner-valence vacancy in fluoromethane, in which two electrons simultaneously fill the vacancies and a third electron is ejected to continuum. Calculations predict the respective lifetime of the double vacancy state to be in the femtosecond range, typical for two-electron Auger decay. Measured electron spectra indirectly support this rather surprising result