Spin caloric transport from density-functional theory

Spin caloric transport refers to the coupling of heat with spin transport. Its applications
primarily concern the generation of spin currents and control of magnetisation by temperature
gradients for information technology, known by the synonym spin caloritronics. Within
the framework of ab initio theory, new tools are being developed to provide an additional
understanding of these phenomena in realistic materials, accounting for the complexity of the
electronic structure without adjustable parameters. Here, we review this progress, summarising
the principles of the density-functional-based approaches in the field and presenting a number
of application highlights. Our discussion includes the three most frequently employed
approaches to the problem, namely the Kubo, Boltzmann, and Landauer–Büttiker methods.
These are showcased in specific examples that span, on the one hand, a wide range of
materials, such as bulk metallic alloys, nano-structured metallic and tunnel junctions, or
magnetic overlayers on heavy metals, and, on the other hand, a wide range of effects, such as
the spin-Seebeck, magneto-Seebeck, and spin-Nernst effects, spin disorder, and the thermal
spin-transfer and thermal spin–orbit torques.