Extended Data Fig. 1: Schematic overview of possible electronic decay processes of aqueous Al³⁺.

Schematic overview of the electronic decay processes that can be considered after 1s core ionization of aqueous Al³⁺. After 1s ionization, the dominant KLL Auger-Meitner decay process leads to highly charged Al⁵⁺ states. Minor channels after 1s ionization are ICD (blue lines) and X-ray fluorescence (radiative, orange arrows). The highly charged Al⁵⁺ states with high excess energy can decay by ICD (blue lines). The states with less excess energy undergo ETMD processes (green lines). The cascades continue until the highly ionized cations are reduced to the original Al³⁺ state. The cascade studied in this work is highlighted in yellow.