Abstract
The unknown lattice dynamics of simple cubic Polonium is calculated using first-principles density-functional perturbation theory with pseudopotentials and a plane-wave basis set. We notice several phonon anomalies, in particular along major symmetry directions namely M-R, R-Gamma, Gamma-M, M-X, and X-Gamma. The analysis of the Fermi surface strongly suggests that the observed phonon anomalies are Kohn anomalies arising from strong Fermi surface nesting. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.