1995/07/10 by Börje Johansson, Rajeev Ahuja, Olle Eriksson +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Engineering · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Rare-earth and actinide compounds #Thermodynamic and Structural Properties of Metals and Alloys #High-pressure geophysics and materials
paper · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.75.280
openalex publication_date 1995/07/10 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
It is standard practice to consider thorium as a traditional tetravalent d transition metal, belonging to the same group of elements as Ti, Zr, and Hf. We demonstrate, however, that the observed fcc crystal structure for thorium is in complete disagreement with this picture. Instead we show that it is the itinerant 5f electrons which stabilize the fcc phase. Thereby we have established a close connection between thorium and the heavier actinide metals (Pa-Pu), which has previously been overlooked.