Electronic-structure investigation of ${\mathrm{CeB}}_6$ by means of soft-x-ray scattering

The electronic structure of the heavy fermion compound ${\mathrm{CeB}}_6$ is probed by resonant inelastic soft-x-ray scattering using photon energies across the $\mathrm{Ce}\hspace{0.5em}3d$ and $4d$ absorption edges. The hybridization between the localized $4f$ orbitals and the delocalized valence-band states is studied by identifying the different spectral contributions from inelastic Raman scattering and normal fluorescence. Pronounced energy-loss structures are observed below the elastic peak at both the $3d$ and $4d$ thresholds. The origin and character of the inelastic scattering structures are discussed in terms of charge-transfer excitations in connection to the dipole allowed transitions with $4f$ character. Calculations within the single-impurity Anderson model with full multiplet effects are found to yield consistent spectral functions to the experimental data.