Hund's metal physics in uranium mononitride
Phys. Rev. B 113, 195106 – Published 1 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/khzr-s8t2
Abstract
Uranium electrons often yield heavy-fermion behavior via Kondo screening. However, the pronounced bad-metallic transport of uranium mononitride (UN) defies an incoherent Kondo explanation. Using density-functional theory combined with dynamical mean-field theory, we show that UN is a strongly correlated bad metal. The dominant correlations arise from intra-atomic Hund's exchange interaction between two electrons, which aligns local magnetic moments and produces large quasiparticle mass renormalization. This identifies UN as a -electron analog of a Hund's metal—a paradigm chiefly associated with transition-metal systems. Our results motivate a reexamination of the interplay between Mott, Kondo, and Hund-driven correlations across actinide correlated materials.