The influence of spin–orbit coupling and a current dependent potential on the residual resistivity of disordered magnetic alloys

It has been shown recently, for a number of various magnetic disordered alloy systems, that the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) may have an important influence on the isotropic residual resistivity and that it is the primary source of the galvano-magnetic properties spontaneous magnetoresistance anisotropy (SMA) and anomalous Hall resistivity (AHR). Here it is demonstrated that—in contrast to many other spin–orbit induced phenomena—all these findings stem from the part of the spin–orbit coupling that gives rise to a mixing of the two spin sub-systems. In line with this result it is shown that inclusion of a current dependent potential within a calculation of the underlying electronic structure hardly affects the transport properties if the corresponding magnetic vector potential does not lead to a mixing of the spin sub-systems.