Oral Presentation Crystal36-AXAA Conference 2026

Energy-Dependent Evolution of Novel Relativistic Quantum Many-Body Hidden Satellites in Zinc X-ray Emission Revealed by XR-HERFD (144968)

Ramesh Rijal 1 , Christopher T Chantler 1
  1. School of Physics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Advances in high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy are opening new pathways to probe subtle many-body interactions in condensed matter systems. Here, we report a significant methodological and experimental breakthrough enabling the direct observation of previously unresolved many-body features in zinc X-ray emission spectra. Our development of a novel spectroscopic analytical technique called a binary data splicing methodology, combined with an in-house newly developed extended-range high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection technique (XR-HERFD), has demonstrated approximately 50% improvements in both spectral resolution and fluorescence counts, allowing detection of subtle many-body processes previously unresolved. Using the methodology at the I20-Scanning beamline of Diamond Light Source (UK), and employing a 14-crystal analyser array, we present the first statistically robust observation of previously hidden many-body satellite structures within the Zn Kα₁,₂ emission lines. These features, which we term Hidden Satellites, are embedded within the main emission peak and exhibit a clear, systematic evolution as a function of incident photon energy. Their statistical significance exceeds 50σ per data point. With the integration of principal component analysis (PCA), we were able to reproduce and isolate these novel features and trace the evolution of these structures. Remarkably, these hidden features contribute up to 20% of the total emission intensity, directly challenging the long-standing fact that the many-body reduction factor (S₀²) is constant. Our findings provide a new foundation for interpreting X-ray spectroscopy, influencing thousands of studies across chemistry, physics, and biology. Despite zinc metal being considered a “simple” d¹⁰ metal, the complexity, asymmetry, and evolution of these new processes are dramatic and point to a rich new area of inquiry.