Fluctuating valence in a correlated solid and the anomalous properties of [delta]-plutonium
Article Abstract:
The electronic mechanisms responsible for the anomalous behavior of late actinides is identified by revisiting the concept of valence theoretical approach that treats magnetism, Kondo screening, atomic multiplet effects and crystal field splitting on the same footing. It was found that the ground state in plutonium is a quantum superposition of two distinct atomic valences, whereas curium settles into a magnetically ordered single valence state at low temperatures.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2007
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Vacillating valence
Article Abstract:
The odd behavior of the plutonium's [delta] phase in terms of an underlying instability in electronic structure is explored. The results show that in quantum-mechanical terms, the electrons could preserve their atomic character in a superposition of two atomic valence states with five and six 5f electrons.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2007
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Correlated electrons in delta-plutonium within a dynamical mean-field picture
Article Abstract:
Research is presented concerning the substantial increase in volume which occurs when alpha-phase plutonium is transferred to the delta-phase. The competition between delocalization and localization tendencies is discussed.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2001
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Feather-pecking and victim pigmentation. Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution
- Abstracts: Effects of spatiotemporal scale on autocorrelation and home range estimators. The effect of scent marking, forest clearing, and supplemental feeding on moose-train collisions
- Abstracts: Diel variation in blue whale calls recorded in the eastern tropical Pacific. Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera
- Abstracts: Fluctuating superconductivity in organic molecular metals close to the Mott transition. Quantum physics: Indistinguishable from afar
- Abstracts: Unproductive splicing of SR genes associated with highly conserved and ultraconserved DNA elements. Repression of the human dihydrofolate reductase gene by a non-coding interfering transcript