F-electron metals

M.R. Norman and D.D. Koelling, Electronic structure, Fermi surfaces, and superconductivity in f electron metals 1... 

Response of Local Density Theory to the Challenge of f Electron Metals... 

A brief review is given on the application of local density theory to the electronic structure of f-electron metals, including various ground state properties such as observed crystal structures, equilibrium lattice constants, Fermi surface topologies, and the electronic nature of known magnetic phases. A discussion is also given about the relation of calculated results to the unusual low energy excitations seen in many of these metals. 

It is interesting to contrast the case of hep UPtg to the case of UPdg, which has a closely related crystal structure (dhep). It turns out that the UPdo Fermi surface is well-represented by an f core calculation (24). Thus one could say that UPtg is on the verge of a localization (Mott) transition. In conclusion, it is clear that the LDA calculations have been very helpful in sorting out the nature of the ground states for those f electron metals which show anomalous behavior. 

Despite several problems, the local density approximation has turned out to be quite useful in elucidating information about the ground state properties of f electron metals. For further information, the reader is... 

Of the f-electron metals that are ferromagnetic in the bulk (i.e. Gd, Tb and Dy), only Gd has been explored by DFT computations for cluster magnetism. In particular, computations... 

Most calculations of the electronic structure of solids, including those performed for f electron metals, are based on density functional theory within the Kohn-Sham ansatz to which, in turn, a local density (LDA) or local spin density (LSDA) approximation is applied. Each part of this characterization has it own implications and it is important to understand which is relevant when judging the validity of results. 

---