Synchronous and asynchronous dynamics of the concerted three-body dissociations of temporary negative ion CH₂F₂

Molecular concerted three-body dissociation is a fast process, but still can be classified into synchronous and asynchronous pathways. It is challenging in experiments to evaluate different contributions of the aforementioned mechanisms. Here, we report an experimental identification of the synchronous and asynchronous concerted three-body dissociations of temporary negative ion CH₂F₂ ^- at an electron-molecule resonant state formed by electron attachment. The synchronous-asynchronous branching ratios indicate that the asynchronous process is predominant although the synchronous contribution is slightly enhanced with the increase in the electron attachment energy. This study provides two intuitive pictures of the concerted three-body dissociations, in particular for the nonequivalent-bond cleavages of a polyatomic molecule.