Probing actinide electronic structure through Pu cluster calculations

Abstract

Calculations of the electronic structure of clusters of plutonium have been performed, within the framework of the relativistic discrete-variational method. These theoretical results and those calculated earlier for related systems have been compared to spectroscopic data produced in the experimental investigations of bulk systems, including photoelectron spectroscopy. Observation of the changes in the Pu electronic structure as a function of size provides powerful insight for aspects of bulk Pu electronic structure. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.