Correlation effects are important for making predictions in the $\delta$ phase of Pu. Using a realistic treatment of the intra-atomic Coulomb correlations we address the long-standing problem of computing ground state properties. The equilibrium volume is obtained in good agreement with experiment when taking into account Hubbard $U$ of the order 4 eV. For this $U,$ the calculation predicts a ${5f}^5$ atomiclike configuration with $L=5\mathrm{}$, $S=5\mathrm{}/2$, and $J=5\mathrm{}/2$ and shows a nearly complete compensation between spin and orbital magnetic moments.

• Received 23 August 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3670