Ferromagnetism in body centred cubic Rh

First principles, self-consistent density functional theory calculations of the magnetic order of rhodium in various crystal phases and for various lattice constants have been performed at 0 K. They show that ferromagnetism occurs in bulk Rh at the optimum lattice constant if Rh is in the body centred cubic phase. The ferromagnetic order persists when spin-orbit coupling is included or the bcc lattice is compressed. Calculations using the local spin-density approximation give similar results as those in which the more modern generalised gradient approximation is applied, although the latter produce a higher magnetic moment of Rh.