Effects of Spin-Orbit Coupling in Rare Earth Metals, and in Solutions of Rare Earth Metals

There are three phenomena of the same general character that occur in rare earth metals or their solutions: (1) the reduction of superconducting transition temperature in dilute solutions of the rare earths in lanthanum or rare earth compounds in CeRu/sub 2/ or OsRu/sub 2/; (2) an extra resistance of the pure metals due to spin disorder scattering; (3) an indirect exchange coupling among the ion spins in analogy with the Ruderman-Kittel mechanism of nuclear spin-spin interaction in metals. This investigation points out thc bearing which spin-orbit coupling has on the interaction in the above three cases. (A.C.)