Even-odd effects in magnetoresistance of ferromagnetic domain walls

The difference in the density of states for the spin's majority and minority bands in a ferromagnet changes the electrostatic potential along the domains, introducing discontinuities of the potential at domain boundaries. The value of the discontinuity oscillates with the number of domains. Discontinuity depends on the positions of domain walls, their motion, or the collapse of domain walls in applied magnetic field. Large values of the magnetoresistance are explained in terms of spin accumulation. We suggest a type of domain wall in nanowires made of itinerant ferromagnets, in which the magnetization vector changes without rotation. The absence of transverse magnetization components allows considerable spin accumulation, assuming the spin relaxation length L-S is large enough.