An effective pseudohamiltonian: Effects of spin-orbit interactions on magnetic susceptibilities of liquid metals

A recently published relativistic model pseudopotential has been generalised to derive (i) a reliable magnetic model pseudopotential and (ii) an effective Hamiltonian for calculating the electronic properties of a simple metal in a weak applied magnetic field. This effective Hamiltonian has been applied to obtain an expression, which includes both the magnetic and the spin-orbit interactions, that can be used to calculate the conduction-electron magnetic susceptibilities of solid alkali metals and liquid simple metals. The applications indicate that as the temperature increases the s component of the conduction-electron wavefunction in a metal such as Pb increases, so that the effect of the spin-orbit interaction, and thereby its contribution to the electronic magnetic susceptibility, decreases very strongly.