Electronic correlations decimate the ferroelectric polarization of multiferroic homn2o5.

We show that electronic correlations decimate the intrinsic ferroelectric polarization of multiferroic manganites RMn2O5, where R is a rare earth element. Such is manifest from ab initio band structure computations that account for the Coulomb interactions between the manganese 3d electrons--the root of magnetism in RMn2O5. Including these leads to an amplitude and direction of polarization of HoMn2O5 that agree with experiment. The decimation is caused by a near cancellation of the ionic polarization induced by the lattice and the electronic one due to valence charge redistributions.