Interatomic Electronic Decay in Endohedral Fullerenes

Ionization of an atom in an endohedral fullerene complex can lead to a wealth of nonradiative decay processes. These interatomic processes occur due to the correlation existing between the atomic and the fullerene electrons and do not take place in the free species . Considering as an example, we calculate the rates of the interatomic decay processes and show that the interatomic decay in is ultrafast. Moreover, our analysis suggests that interatomic decay in an endohedral fullerene does not necessarily lead to the destruction of the complex.