Temperature dependent resistivity of spin-split subbands in GaAs two-dimensional hole systems

We calculate the temperature dependent resistivity in spin-split subbands induced by the strong spin-orbit coupling in GaAs two-dimensional hole systems. By considering both temperature dependent multisubband screening of impurity disorder and hole-hole scattering, we find that the strength of the metallic behavior depends on the spin splitting over a large range of hole density. At low density above the metal-insulator transition, we find that the effective disorder reduces the enhancement of the metallic behavior induced by spin splitting. Our theory is in good qualitative agreement with the existing experiments, and resolves a recent controversy in the literature.