Model for the Analysis of the Magnetoresistance in Potassium

Abstract

A new model is proposed in which the observed magnetoresistance curves for potassium are qualitatively analyzed as a synthesis of four superposed behaviors: (1) a phonon saturating behavior exhibiting the predicted temperature dependence for umklapp scattering, (2) a new residual saturating behavior due to impurities and defects, (3) a negative saturating behavior agreeing quantitatively with size-effect theory, and (4) a newly identified low-field quadratic behavior which becomes asymptotically linear at high fields due to macroscopic inhomogeneities.