Kondo and anti-Kondo coupling to local moments in EuB₆

With a treatment of the 4f states of EuB₆ based on LDA+U (LDA—local-density approximation) method, the mixing of Eu f states with B p states around the X point of the Brillouin zone is shown to have unexpected consequences for the effective exchange interactions. We analyze in detail the orbital character of electronic states close to the Fermi level and discuss the effective exchange between the itinerant electrons and the local 4f moments. The analysis suggests that the ordered phase may provide the first example of a half-metallic semimetal, and that the physics of EuB₆ should be described in terms of a two-band Kondo lattice model with parallel (ferromagnetic) coupling of the conduction electrons and antiparallel (antiferromagnetic) coupling of the valence electrons to the local 4f moments.