Spin-Orbit Coupling in an f-electron Tight-Binding Model

We extend a tight-binding method to include the effects of spin-orbit coupling, and apply it to the study of the electronic properties of the actinide elements Th, U, and Pu. These tight-binding parameters are determined for the fcc crystal structure using the equivalent equilibrium volumes. In terms of the single particle energies and the electronic density of states, the overall quality of the tight-binding representation is excellent and of the same quality as without spin-orbit coupling. The values of the optimized tight-binding spin-orbit coupling parameters are comparable to those determined from purely atomic calculations.