A totally nonempirical relativistic cluster calculation of transition-metal L 2,3 -edge x-ray-absorption nearedge structure including configuration interaction has been performed. A remarkable predictive power of this calculation has been demonstrated for three contrasting materials with different d-electron numbers and different coordination numbers ͑SrTiO 3 , NiO, and CaF 2 ͒ by excellent reproduction of both the absolute peak energies and their relative intensities without any empirical parameters.

First-principles molecular orbital calculations using model clusters are made in order to reproduce and interpret experimental electron-energy-loss near-edge structure and near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure of MgO at Mg K, L 2,3 and O K edges. Ground-state calculations using a model cluster composed of 125 atoms and by a band-structure method are in good agreement, but they do not reproduce the experimental spectra satisfactory. They are well reproduced only by the cluster calculations for the Slater transition state, where a half-electron is removed from a core orbital and placed into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. The core-hole effect is therefore essential for theoretical reproduction of the spectral shapes. A large supercell is required to reproduce the experimental spectra when one uses a band-structure method. The origin of peaks appearing in the experimental spectra is interpreted in terms of orbital interactions using overlap-population diagrams. Some features of the spectra at different edges are pointed out to have common origins. Experimental spectra are aligned accordingly. The transition energies and qualitative features of experimental spectra are found to be reproduced even using a smaller cluster composed of 27 atoms, although some of fine structure is missing.

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