Electronic structure and X-ray photoemission spectra of the compounds APtSn I (A=Th, U)

Abstract The electronic structure of the actinide compounds ThPtSn and UPtSn is calculated by the tight-binding linear muffin–tin orbital method, and the X-ray photoemission spectra (XPS) are measured and computed. Rather good agreement is found. Comparison of XPS for UPtSn and ThPtSn shows the role of 5f electrons. Although electrical resistivity measurements reported earlier in literature suggested semiconducting behaviour of the (Th,U)PtSn compounds, the present study finds either very small or even vanishing semiconducting gap in UPtSn. The problem of gap is discussed and arguments for an antiferromagnetic ground state in UPtSn are presented.