Exchange energy dominated by large orbital spin-currents in $\delta$-Pu

Abstract

The electronic structure of the anomalous $\delta$-phase of Pu is analyzed by a general and exact reformulation of the exchange energy of the $f$-shell. It is found that the dominating contribution to the exchange energy is a polarization of orbital spin-currents that preserves the time reversal symmetry, hence a non-magnetic solution in accordance with experiments. The analysis brings a unifying picture of the role of exchange in the $5f$-shell with its relatively strong spin-orbit coupling. The results are in good accordance with recent measurements of the branching ratio for the $d$ to $f$ transition in the actinides.

6 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables

References in corpus (3)

• What is the valence of a correlated solid? The double life of delta-plutonium
• Magnetic state of plutonium ion in metallic Pu and its compounds
• Spectral Properties of delta-Plutonium: Sensitivity to 5f Occupancy