The electron momentum distribution in holmium

Abstract The Compton profile of holmium has been measured at an intermediate resolution (0.4 a.u.) using 661.65 keV gamma-rays. The measurement has been compared with our renormalized-free-atom (RFA) and free electron-based profiles. It is seen that the RFA model with e − –e − correlation is in relatively better agreement with the experiment. The data is interpreted in terms of hybridization of 4f band with the 5d–6s bands. From our RFA calculations, we have also computed the cohesive energy of the lanthanide.