Electronic Coherence in<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>δ</mml:mi></mml:math>-Pu: A Dynamical Mean-Field Theory Study

Abstract

A combination of density functional theory and the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is used to calculate the magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and the temperature dependence of the valence band photoemission spectra for delta-Pu. We predict that delta-Pu has a Pauli-like magnetic susceptibility near ambient temperature, as in experiment, indicating that electronic coherence causes the absence of local moments. Additionally, we show that volume expansion causes a crossover from incoherent to coherent electronic behavior at increasingly lower temperatures.