Itinerant and Localized d‐Electrons in Transition Metals from Positron Annihilation Data

Abstract The positron annihilation data for non‐transition metals are treated as a combination of annihilation by conduction electrons, ion‐core electrons, and d‐electrons localized on the ion core. It is possible to account for the high positron annihilation rate of transition metals and the gradation across the transition series by the further partition of the d‐electrons into localized and itinerant d‐electrons. All d‐electrons are itinerant for Sc, Ti, and V, and only a fraction of a d‐electron is itinerant in Fe, Co, and Ni; there are two and five localized d‐electrons for Cr and Mn, respectively.