Electronic structure of eka-lead (element 114) compared with lead

The electronic level structure of eka-lead (element 114), the synthesis of which was reported last year, is studied by the recently developed intermediate Hamiltonian Fock-space coupled-cluster method. Very large basis sets are used, with l up to 8, and 36 electron are correlated. The accuracy of the resulting transition energies is tested by applying the same method to Pb; calculated ionization potentials and excitation energies agree with experiment within a few hundredths of an eV, and similar accuracy is expected for the heavier element. Ionization potentials and excitation energies of E114 are considerably higher than for Pb, due to the relativistic stabilization of the 7s and 7p(1/2) orbitals. This indicates that eka-lead will probably be more inert and less metallic than lead. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.