We report experimental and theoretical results on the Fe K edge x-ray absorption spectrum and 1s2p
resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra in a-Fe2O3 . The results are interpreted using an FeO6^9-
cluster model with intra-atomic multiplet coupling and interatomic covalency hybridization. The 1s2p RIXS is
treated as a coherent second-order optical process. It is shown that the double-peak structure in the pre-edge
region of Fe K absorption spectrum is due to the cubic crystal-field splitting, and that the intensity of the
eg (t2g) component in the 1s2p resonant inelastic spectrum is enhanced by tuning the incident photon energy
to the eg (t2g) component in the absorption spectrum