  The electronic structure of the new superconducting material LaNiPO
experimentally probed by soft X-ray spectroscopy and theoretically calculated
by the combination of local density approximation with Dynamical Mean-Field
Theory (LDA+DMFT) are compared herein. We have measured the Ni L2,3 X-ray
emission (XES) and absorption (XAS) spectra which probe the occupied and
unoccupied the Ni 3d states, respectively. In LaNiPO, the Ni 3d states are
strongly renormalized by dynamical correlations and shifted about 1.5 eV lower
in the valence band than the corresponding Fe 3d states in LaFeAsO. We further
obtain a lower Hubbard band at -9 eV below the Fermi level in LaNiPO which
bears striking resemblance to the lower Hubbard band in the correlated oxide
NiO, while no such band is observed in LaFeAsO. These results are also
supported by the intensity ratio between the transition metal L2 and L3 bands
measured experimentally to be higher in LaNiPO than in LaFeAsO, indicating the
presence of the stronger electron correlations in the Ni 3d states in LaNiPO in
comparison with the Fe 3d states in LaFeAsO. These findings are in accordance
with resonantly excited transition metal L3 X-ray emission spectra which probe
occupied metal 3d-states and show the appearance of the lower Hubbard band in
LaNiPO and NiO and its absence in LaFeAsO.
