Effects of Adiabatic Approximation on The Electron Momentum Spectroscopy of Partially Spherically Symmetric Molecules

The influence of the vibrational motion caused by the Born–Oppenheimer approximation on the symmetry of the electron momentum distribution of a molecular system is non-negligible. In this paper, spherical top molecules (i.e., CH4, CF4, and SF6) with similar configurations in the core and valence orbitals are used to study their momentum spectra through quantum mechanical calculations. In CF4 and SF6 molecules, a clear symmetry breaking effect triggered by asymmetric vibration modes is reflected in the electron momentum profile.