Electronic Structure of CePd₃

Abstract

To investigate an origin of the anomalously large residual resistivity in CePd₃, a typical intermediate-valence compound, the energy band structure is calculated by a full-potential linear APW method and a relativistic APW method with the density-functional theory in a local-density approximation. Calculations show that small Fermi surfaces may exist in the 4f bands and play an essential role in the electrical conduction. In the alloy system in which Ce is replaced with La, the electron scattering by the La impurity seems to occur in the unitarity limit. The sharp rise of the resistivity observed by the replacement of Pd with Ag or Cu is ascribed to the Anderson localisation in the 4f bands.