Our long-term goal is the resolution of the plutonium (Pu) electronic structure problem.  Here two important steps on that journey will be discussed. (1) One of the crucial questions of all actinide electronic structure determinations is the issue of 5f versus 6d character. Here, a break-through experiment is discussed, which has allowed the direct determination of the U5f and U6d contributions to the unoccupied density of states (UDOS) in Uranium Dioxide. [1] (2) A second novel avenue of attack upon the problem of Pu electronic structure is the utilization of reduced dimensionality. Calculations of the electronic structure of clusters of plutonium have been performed, within the framework of the Relativistic Discrete-Variational Method (RDV). [2] 1.J.G. Tobin and S.W. Yu, Phys. Rev. Lett 107 , 167406 (2011). 2. M.V. Ryzhkov, A. Mirmelstein, S.-W. Yu, B.W. Chung and J.G. Tobin,� J. Physics Condensed Matter, submitted Sept 2012.

Recent developments in the pursuit of actinide electronic structure, from inverse photoemission to Pu cluster calculations

245th National Meeting (2013)

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