Virtual-bound-state effects in core-level spectra of light rare-earth alloys

We document observations of unusual distortion of the individual component core-level line shapes of x-ray photoemission peaks in alloys of the light rare earths. We show, by a rather simple treatment, that this distortion is a result of hybridization of the 4f levels with valence states in the final state and that it is diagnostic of the strength of such hybridization.