.
BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES
IBM Research Division
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
" In the last 10 years, first-principles pseudopotentials revolutionized band-structure calculations for solids, especially when no d or f orbitals are involved. History is now repeating itself. Pseudopotentials are shown to lead to an efficient implementation of the variational Monte Carlo approach to the many electron problem in real solids.
S. Fairy, X.W. Wang, S.G. Louie, “Variational quantum Monte Carlo nonlocal pseudopotential approach to solids: Cohesive and structural properties of diamond,” Physical Review Letters, 61 (14), 1631-4, 3 October 1988.
" Evidence for nonphonon mechanisms of superconductivity is scarce. A new paper on Bio-based superconductors reports evidence that conventional phonon-mediated pairing is not doing it. The authors speculate that pairing occurs through electronic excitations with only a “parasitic” lattice deformation.
B. Batlogg, L.I. Cava, L.W. Rupp, A.M. Mujace, J.J. Krajewski, J.P. Remeika, W.E. Peck, ...
