A scheme is presented that is based on the alloy analogy model and allows to account for thermal lattice vibrations as well as spin fluctuations when calculating response quantities in solids. Various models to deal with spin fluctuations are discuss
ed concerning their impact on the resulting temperature dependent magnetic moment, longitudinal conductivity and Gilbert damping parameter. It is demonstrated that using the Monte Carlo (MC) spin configuration as an input, the alloy analogy model is capable to reproduce results of MC simulations on the average magnetic moment within all spin fluctuation models under discussion. On the other hand, response quantities are much more sensitive to the spin fluctuation model. Separate calculations accounting for either the thermal effect due to lattice vibrations or spin fluctuations show their comparable contributions to the electrical conductivity and Gilbert damping. However, comparison to results accounting for both thermal effects demonstrate violation of Matthiessens rule, showing the non-additive effect of lattice vibrations and spin fluctuations. The results obtained for bcc Fe and fcc Ni are compared with the experimental data, showing rather good agreement for the temperature dependent electrical conductivity and Gilbert damping parameter.
The pressure induced bcc to hcp transition in Fe has been investigated via ab-initio electronic structure calculations. It is found by the disordered local moment (DLM) calculations that the temperature induced spin fluctuations result in the decreas
e of the energy of Burgers type lattice distortions and softening of the transverse $N$-point $TA_1$ phonon mode with $[bar{1}10]$ polarization. As a consequence, spin disorder in an system leads to the increase of the amplitude of atomic displacements. On the other hand, the exchange coupling parameters obtained in our calculations strongly decrease at large amplitude of lattice distortions. This results in a mutual interrelation of structural and magnetic degrees of freedom leading to the instability of the bcc structure under pressure at finite temperature.
The electronic structure and magnetic properties of CrSb$_2$ have been investigated by ab-initio calculations with an emphasis on the role of the magnetic structure for the ground state. The influence of correlation effects has been investigated by p
erforming fixed spin moment (FSM) calculations showing their important role for the electronic and magnetic properties. The details of the electronic structure of CrSb$_2$ are analyzed by a comparison with those of FeSb$_2$. The results obtained contribute in particular to the understanding of the temperature dependence of transport and magnetic behavior observed experimentally.
A Kubo-Greenwood-like equation for the Gilbert damping parameter $alpha$ is presented that is based on the linear response formalism. Its implementation using the fully relativistic Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) band structure method in combination wi
th Coherent Potential Approximation (CPA) alloy theory allows it to be applied to a wide range of situations. This is demonstrated with results obtained for the bcc alloy system Fe$_x$Co$_{1-x}$ as well as for a series of alloys of permalloy with 5d transition metals. To account for the thermal displacements of atoms as a scattering mechanism, an alloy-analogy model is introduced. The corresponding calculations for Ni correctly describe the rapid change of $alpha$ when small amounts of substitutional Cu are introduced.
