Nature of f-electrons in CeIn3: Theoretical analysis of positron annihilation data

Experimental data of CeIn3 from positron annihilation experiment are critically reinvestigated going beyond independent particle model. Theoretical treatment based on two component density functional theory in the low positron density limit has been applied. Our analysis shows that the inclusion of the electron-positron matrix-elements in the calculations is an essential requirement to extract reliable information on the rare-earth compounds when the f-electrons have mostly itinerant character, whereas it plays a minor role in case of f-electrons localization. In the case of CeIn3 we confirm that the description of the f-electrons in the paramagnetic phase in terms of localized, atomiclike levels, is the most appropriate to describe the experimental findings.