Comment on “Magnetic circular dichroism versus orbital magnetization”

Abstract

In a recent article [Resta, Phys. Rev. Research 2, 023139 (2020)2643-156410.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.023139] it is argued, based on the dichroic sum rules derived from the modern theory of orbital magnetization, that the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) orbital magnetization sum rule is not providing an expectation value of the orbital angular momentum and of the orbital part of the magnetic moment, but a different quantity, also related to the breakdown of time-reversal invariance, but different. In this Comment, it is shown that this conclusion is incorrect, and that the XMCD sum rule, within its assumptions, delivers an essentially exact expectation value of the orbital angular momentum and of the orbital moment.