Fig. 2: Dalitz representation analysis for the observed three-body product channels with extracted intermediate kinetic energy release \({E}_{{{{\rm{K}}}}_{{{\rm{i}}}}}\) distributions.
a Dalitz representation analysis showing (i) the relation between Dalitz coordinates η1, η2 and break-up geometries, with the red dotted lines indicating the energy axis of each atomic product; (ii), (iii), and (iv): Experimental Dalitz plots for the \({E}_{{{{\rm{K}}}}_{{{\rm{f}}}}}\) in the following reaction channels: (2) O(3P)+O(3P)+O(3P); (3) O(1D)+O(3P)+O(3P); and (4) O(1D)+O(1D)+O(3P), respectively. The white arrows denote the energy axis of each oxygen atom, and the white dashed lines are shown to highlight the observed structures. b Extracted \({E}_{{{{\rm{K}}}}_{{{\rm{i}}}}}\) distributions for the formation of the different intermediate states of \({{{\rm{O}}}}_{2}^{*}\) in the following reaction channels: (2) O(3P)+O(3P)+O(3P); (3) O(1D)+O(3P)+O(3P); and (4) O(1D)+O(1D)+O(3P), respectively. Experimental data are plotted as filled circles, and the error bars are the standard deviations. Individually simulated distributions are plotted as dashed lines, and the solid line represents the total fit. The \({E}_{{{{\rm{K}}}}_{{{\rm{i}}}}}\) regions indicated by the grey vertical bands correspond to electronically excited states in O2 associated with two electronic configurations (3pλu (λ = Σ, Π, Δ) and 3sσg).
