s−dbands of liquid La

The electronic structure of liquid La is calculated by applying the linear combination of atomic orbitals method to a cluster of 365 atoms. Although the $s$ and $d$ bands are of nearly the same width and are strongly hybridized in the solid, we find that in the liquid the $s$ states retain their propagating character much more so than do the $d$ states. This suggests, tentatively, that in the calculation of the conductivity it is more nearly correct to treat only the $s$ electrons as current carriers than to regard both $s$ and $d$ electrons as conduction electrons.