Electron Excitation Energies in the Rare Earth and Actinide Metals

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Calculations of various electronic excitation energies for the rare earth and actinide metals are discussed. Relativistic Hartree-Fock computations for atomic configurations most closely approximating those of the metal are initially performed, and crystal potentials are constructed by means of the renormalized atom method. Relativistic band calculations are iterated to crude self-consistency, and excitation energies derive from differences between total band energies. Results include (1) occupied and unoccupied 4f level positions in the lanthanide metals and associated values of the 4f coulomb interaction energy, U; (2) 3d levels in the rare earths; and (3) 5f excitation energies and coulomb terms for the actinide metals. There is excellent agreement between these results and X-ray photoemission and bremsstrahlung isochromat spectroscopy measurements for the rare earths, while corresponding experimental information for the actinides is as yet unavailable.