Angular Distributions for the Complete Photofragmentation of the Li Atom

We explore the complete breakup of the Li atom after absorption of a single photon, the purest example of the so-called four-body Coulomb problem. The resulting strongly correlated three-electron continuum is investigated by calculating the angular distributions of the ionized electrons using advanced close-coupling techniques. We find that the distributions are dominated by the Coulomb interactions between the electrons, that multiple break-up processes can be identified, and that the complex dynamics of the fragmentation process are evident for most scattering geometries.