Section 2.2.9.4. Relativistic effects

If a solid contains only light elements, non-relativistic calculations are well justified, but as soon as heavier elements are present in the system of interest relativistic effects can no longer be neglected. In the medium range of atomic numbers (up to about 54), so-called scalar relativistic schemes are often used (Koelling & Harmon, 1977), which describe the main contraction or expansion of various orbitals (due to the Darwin s-shift or the mass–velocity term) but omit spin–orbit splitting. Unfortunately, the spin–orbit term couples spin-up and spin-down wavefunctions. If one has n basis functions without spin–orbit coupling, then including spin–orbit coupling in the Hamiltonian would lead to a matrix equation, which requires about eight times as much computer time to solve it (due to the scaling). Since the spin–orbit effect is generally small (at least for the valence states), one can simplify the procedure by diagonalizing the Hamiltonian including spin–orbit coupling in the space of the low-lying bands as obtained in a scalar relativistic step. This version is called second variational method (see e.g. Singh, 1994). For very heavy elements it may be necessary to solve Dirac's equation, which has all these terms (Darwin s-shift, mass–velocity and spin–orbit) included. Additional aspects are illustrated in Section 2.2.14 in connection with the uranium atom.