Electrical resistivity of pure transuranium metals under pressure

The influence of electronic structure evolution upon pressure on the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of pure Np, Pu, Am, and Cm metals has been investigated within the coherent potential approximation (CPA) for the many-bands conductivity model. The densities of states calculated within the local density approximation accounting for the Hubbard U and spin-orbit coupling (LDA+U+SO method) for the cubic (bcc- or fcc-) structures with the volumes fitted to the relative volumes of real metal phases were used as a starting point for model investigations of the electrical resistivity. The obtained results were found in good agreement with a number of available experimental data. The origin of large magnitude of the resistivity of the actinides was discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.