In order to promote our understanding on electronic structure of actinide dioxides, we construct a tight-binding model composed of actinide $5f$ and oxygen $2p$ electrons, which is called $f$-$p$ model. After the diagonalization of the $f$-$p$ model, we compare the eigenenergies in the first Brillouin zone with the results of relativistic band-structure calculations. Here we emphasize a key role of $f$-$p$ hybridization in order to understand the electronic structure of actinide dioxides. In particular, it is found that the position of energy levels of $Γ_7$ and $Γ_8$ states determined from crystalline electric field potentials depends on the $f$-$p$ hybridization. We clarify the condition on the $f$-$p$ hybridization to explain the electronic structure which is consistent with the local crystalline electric field state. We briefly discuss the region of the absolute values of the Slater-Koster integrals for $f$-$p$ hybridization concerning the appearance of octupole ordering in NpO$_2$.
The local-density approximation combined with the dynamical mean-field theory (LDA+DMFT) is applied to the paramagnetic phase of light actinide dioxides: UO2, NpO2, and PuO2. The calculated band gaps and the valence-band electronic structure are in a very good agreement with the optical absorption experiments as well as with the photoemission spectra. The hybridization of the actinide 5f shell with the 2p states of oxygen is found to be relatively large, it increases the filling of the 5f orbitals from the nominal ionic configurations with two, three, and four electrons to nearly half-integer …
Using a recently developed method combining a nonspherical self-interaction corrected LDA+$U$ scheme and an on-site multi-body Hamiltonian [Phys.\ Rev.\ B 83, 085106 (2011)], we calculate the crystal field parameters and crystal field (CF) excitation levels of $f$-element dioxides in the fluorite structure with $f^{n}$ electronic configurations, including $n=1$ (PaO$_{2}$, PrO$_{2}$), $n=2$ (UO$_{2}$), $n=3$ (NpO$_{2}$), and $n=4$ (PuO$_{2}$). It is shown that good agreement with experimental data (within approximately 10 to 20 meV) can be obtained in all cases. The properties of the multi-ele…
The electronic ground states of the actinide dioxides AnO2 (with An=U, Np, Pu, Am, and Cm) are investigated employing first-principles calculations within the framework of the local density approximation +U (LDA+U) approach, implemented in a full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave scheme. A systematic analysis of the An-5f states is performed which provides intuitive connections between the electronic structures and the local crystalline fields of the f states in the AnO2 series. Particularly the mechanisms leading to the experimentally observed insulating ground states are investigated…
By evaluating multipole susceptibility of a seven-orbital impurity Anderson model with the use of a numerical renormalization group method, we discuss possible multipole states of actinide dioxides at low temperatures. In particular, here we point out a possible scenario for multipole ordering in americium dioxide. For Am$^{4+}$ ion with five $5f$ electrons, it is considered that the ground state is $Γ_7^{-}$ doublet and the first excited state is $Γ_8^{-}$ quartet, but we remark that the $f^5$ ground state is easily converted due to the competition between spin-orbit coupling and Coulomb inte…
Studying the local moment and 5$f$-electron occupations sheds insight into the electronic behavior in actinide materials. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has been a powerful tool to reveal the valence electronic structure when assisted with theoretical calculations. However, the analysis currently taken in the community on the branching ratio of the XAS spectra generally does not account for the hybridization effects between local $f$-orbitals and conduction states. In this paper, we discuss an approach which employs the DFT+Gutzwiller rotationally-invariant slave boson (DFT+GRISB) method …
The ground state electronic structures of the actinide oxides AO, A2O3 and AO2 (A=U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Bk, Cf) are determined from first-principles calculations, using the self-interaction corrected local spin-density (SIC-LSD) approximation. Emphasis is put on the degree of f-electron localization, which for AO2 and A2O3 is found to follow the stoichiometry, namely corresponding to A(4+) ions in the dioxide and A(3+) ions in the sesquioxides. In contrast, the A(2+) ionic configuration is not favorable in the monoxides, which therefore become metallic. The energetics of the oxidation and reducti…
We present a detailed analysis of the one-electron physics of the actinides. Various LMTO basis sets are analyzed in order to determine a robust bare Hamiltonian for the actinides. The hybridization between f- an spd- states is compared with the f-f hopping in order to understand the Anderson-like and Hubbard-like contributions to itineracy in the actinides. We show that both contributions decrease strongly as one move from the light actinides to the heavy actinides, while the Anderson-like contribution dominates in all cases. A real-space analysis of the band structure shows that nearest-neig…
Non-resonant inelastic x ray scattering (NIXS) experiments have been performed to probe the 5d-5f electronic transitions at the uranium O(4,5) absorption edges in uranium dioxide. For small values of the scattering vector q, the spectra are dominated by dipole-allowed transitions encapsulated within the giant resonance, whereas for higher values of q the multipolar transitions of rank 3 and 5 give rise to strong and well-defined multiplet structure in the pre-edge region. The origin of the observed non-dipole multiplet structures is explained on the basis of many-electron atomic spectral calcu…
The heavy fermion state with Kondo-hybridization (KH), usually manifested in f-electron systems with lanthanide or actinide elements, was recently discovered in several 3d transition metal compounds without f-electrons. However, KH has not yet been observed in 4d/5d transition metal compounds, since more extended 4d/5d orbitals do not usually form flat bands that supply localized electrons appropriate for Kondo pairing. Here, we report a doping- and temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission study on 4d Ca2-xSrxRuO4, which shows the signature of KH. We observed a spectral weight transf…
We present an implementation of the hybridization expansion impurity solver which employs sparse matrix exact-diagonalization techniques to compute the time evolution of the local Hamiltonian. This method avoids computationally expensive matrix-matrix multiplications and becomes advantageous over the conventional implementation for models with 5 or more orbitals. In particular, this method will allow the systematic investigation of 7-orbital systems (lanthanide and actinide compounds) within single-site dynamical mean field theory. We illustrate the power and usefulness of our approach with dy…
We study the spin-dependent electronic structure of UTe and UT_{2}Si_{2} (T=Cu and Mn) compounds with a combination of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements and first principle calculations. By exploiting the presence of sizable quadrupolar and dipolar contributions to the U L_{2,3}-edge x-ray absorption cross section we are able to provide unique information on the extent of hybridization between 5f and 6d/3d electronic states, a key parameter regulating the physical properties of all actinide materials. Since this information is hardly accessible to other probes, the new methodology…
Based on its condensed-matter properties, crystal structure, and metallurgy, which includes a phase diagram with six allotropic phases, plutonium is one of the most complicated pure elements in its solid state. Its anomalous properties, which are indicative of a very strongly correlated state, are related to its special position in the periodic table, which is at the boundary between the light actinides that have itinerant 5$f$ electrons and the heavy actinides that have localized 5$f$ electrons. As a foundational study to probe the role of local electronic correlations in Pu, we use the local…
In a large number of rare-earth and actinide systems, Kondo effect tends to suppress magnetic order by making the spin singlet between localized and conduction electron spins. In the presence of orbital degrees of freedom, however, there emerge exotic electronic orders induced by Kondo effect. The orbital Kondo effect can collectively make diagonal and off-diagonal (superconducting) orders. With the particle-hole symmetry in conduction bands, these orders are all degenerate, forming a macroscopic SO(5) multiplet. This paper discusses recent theoretical development on these electronic orders wh…
Results of first principles augmented spherical wave electronic structure calculations for niobium dioxide are presented. Both metallic rutile and insulating low-temperature NbO2, which crystallizes in a distorted rutile structure, are correctly described within density functional theory and the local density approximation. Metallic conductivity is carried to equal amounts by metal t_{2g} orbitals, which fall into the one-dimensional d_parallel band and the isotropically dispersing e_{g}^{pi} bands. Hybridization of both types of bands is almost negligible outside narrow rods along the line X-…
Actinide-containing complexes present formidable challenges for electronic structure methods due to the large number of degenerate or quasi-degenerate electronic states arising from partially occupied 5f and 6d shells. Conventional multi-reference methods can treat active spaces that are often at the upper limit of what is required for a proper treatment of species with complex electronic structures, leaving no room for verifying their suitability. In this work we address the issue of properly defining the active spaces in such calculations, and introduce a protocol to determine optimal active…
