The α-γ transition in cerium is a Mott transition

The α-γ transition in cerium is considered as a Mott transition. From spectroscopic data it is concluded that the intra-atomic interaction, U, is considerably smaller than seems to have been believed in the past. Here it is argued that in metallic cerium, U is only of the order of a few electron volts. Current band calculations of the width of a 4f band state are presumably very unreliable, and correlation effects on the ionic crystal potential...