  A gradual spin-state transition occurs in LaCoO3 around T~80-120 K, whose
detailed nature remains controversial. We studied this transition by means of
inelastic neutron scattering (INS), and found that with increasing temperature
an excitation at ~0.6 meV appears, whose intensity increases with temperature,
following the bulk magnetization. Within a model including crystal field
interaction and spin-orbit coupling we interpret this excitation as originating
from a transition between thermally excited states located about 120 K above
the ground state. We further discuss the nature of the magnetic excited state
in terms of intermediate-spin (IS, S=1) vs. high-spin (HS, S=2) states. Since
the g-factor obtained from the field dependence of the INS is g~3, the second
interpretation looks more plausible.
