  The electronic and geometric properties of bulk fcc delta-plutonium and the
quantum size effects in the surface energies and the work functions of the
(001) ultra thin films (UTF) up to 7 layers have been investigated with
periodic density functional theory calculations within the full-potential
linearized augmented-plane wave (FP-LAPW) approach as implemented in the WIEN2k
package. Our calculated equilibrium atomic volume of 178.3 a.u.^3 and bulk
modulus of 24.9 GPa at the fully relativistic level of theory, i.e.
spin-polarization and spin-orbit coupling included, are in good agreement with
the experimental values of 168.2 a.u.^3 and 25 GPa (593 K), respectively. The
calculated equilibrium lattice constants at different levels of approximation
are used in the surface properties calculations for the thin films. The surface
energy is found to be rapidly converged with the semi-infinite surface energy
predicted to be 0.692eV at the fully-relativistic level.
