Sensitivity of the Fermi surface to the treatment of exchange and correlation

Abstract

The group V and VI transition metals share a common Fermi surface feature of hole ellipsoids at the $N$ point in the Brillouin zone. In clear contrast to the other Fermi surface sheets, which are purely of $d$ character, these arise from a band that has a significant proportion of $p$ character. By performing local density approximation (LDA), generalized gradient approximation (GGA), strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) meta-GGA, and $GW$ approximation calculations, we find that the $p$ character part of this band (and therefore the Fermi surface) is particularly sensitive to the exchange-correlation approximation. LDA and GGA calculations inadequately describe this feature, predicting $N$ hole ellipsoid sizes that are consistently too large in comparison to various experimental measurements, whereas quasiparticle self-consistent $GW$ calculations predict a size that is slightly too small (and non-self-consistent $GW$ calculations that use an LDA starting point predict a size that is much too small). Overall, for the metals tested here, SCAN provides the most accurate Fermi surface predictions, mostly correcting the discrepancies between measurements and calculations that were observed when LDA calculations were used. However, none of the tested exchange-correlation approximations succeeds in simultaneously bringing all of the measurable properties of these metals into good experimental agreement, particularly where magnetism is concerned. The SCAN calculations predict antiferromagnetic moments for Cr that are 3 times larger than the experimental value ($1.90\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$ compared to $0.62\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$).