From the transition metals to the rare earths — via the actinides

Abstract

The calculated equations of state of the transition metals are dominated by the d-electron contribution to bonding and at the end of the 3d series the metals become magnetic. In contrast, the calculated equations of state of the rare earths are characterized by the lack of any f-electron contribution to bonding at ambient pressure and the metals are normally magnetic. Electronic structure calculations for the light actinides show that they fall naturally between the transition metals and rare earths. There is a large f-electron contribution to bonding, analogous to the d-electron contribution in the transition metals, and the light actinide metals are not magnetic. Relativistic effects upon the valence electrons are also much larger than in the transition metals and in actinide compounds, which frequently are magnetic, the composition of the magnetic moments contains features of both rare earth and transition metal magnetism.