First principles calculations of the volume dependence of the spin susceptibility for Li and Na

The new variational principle-density functional theory of the spin susceptibility has been used to calculate its volume dependence for Li and Na. The results are compared with recent experiments and previous theories. The exchange-correlation functionals are treated in the local spin density approximation. The single particle electron states are treated in the spherical cell approximation. The agreement between the new theory and experiment is very good for Na and quite acceptable for Li when OPW values of the single particle density of states are used. The results of the new theory are superior to those of the previous theories.