Single impurity Anderson model versus density functional theory for describing Ce L3 x-ray absorption spectra of CeFe2: resolution of a recent controversy.

We resolved a recent controversy on the structure of the Ce L(3) x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) of CeFe(2); i.e., which of the single impurity Anderson model (SIAM) and the first-principles band calculations based on the density-functional theory (DFT) describes more appropriately the Ce 4f states and their contribution to the Ce L(3) XAS? For this purpose, we examined the core-hole effect in Ce L(3) XAS as an application of our new method taking advantage of resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy. Our result clearly shows that the Ce L(3) XAS structure is caused by the mixed valence 4f character revealed by the core-hole potential effect as indicated by SIAM, but denies the possibility that the L(3) XAS structure is caused by the 5d band structure with a very small core-hole effect as predicted by band calculations based on DFT.