Site selective 5$f$ electronic correlations in $\beta$-uranium

Abstract

We studied the electronic structure of $\beta$-uranium, which has five non-equivalent atomic sites in its unit cell, by means of the density functional theory plus Hubbard-$U$ correction. We found that the 5$f$ electronic correlations in $\beta$-uranium are moderate. More interesting, their strengths are site selective, depending on the averaged bond length between the present uranium atom and its neighbors. As a consequence, the 5$f$ density of states, occupation matrices, and charge distributions of $\beta$-uranium manifest strongly site dependence.

6 pages, 5 figures