Recent angle-dependent magnetoresistance measurements in underdoped cuprates have revealed compelling evidence for small hole pockets in the pseudogap regime, including observation of the Yamaji effect in ${\mathrm{HgBa}}_2{\mathrm{CuO}}_{4+\delta }$ [M. K. Chan et al., Nat. Phys. 21, 1753 (2025)]. A key distinction between theories is their predicted Fermi volumes, measured as fractions of the square-lattice Brillouin zone: $p/4$ per pocket for spin density wave (SDW) versus $p/8$ for fractionalized Fermi liquid (${\mathrm{FL}}^{*}$), where $p$ is the hole doping. We calculate the $c$-axis magnetoresistance ${\rho }_{zz}(\theta ,\varphi )$ within the semiclassical Boltzmann formalism for both states, and using the ancilla layer model for ${\mathrm{FL}}^{*}$ in a single-band Hamiltonian. The results from the ${\text{FL}}^{*}$ phase show good consistency with current experimental data. Conversely, the results for the SDW phase are highly sensitive to the ordering momentum along the $z$ direction. An ordering vector of $Q=(\pi ,\pi ,\pi )$ yields predictions that starkly disagree with the experiment. The only possibility for agreement within the SDW scenario is to assume an ordering momentum of $Q=(\pi ,\pi ,0)$. However, even in this specific case, the SDW scenario predicts a marginally smaller Yamaji angle at $\varphi =0$ than the ${\mathrm{FL}}^{*}$ theory, and a second Yamaji peak near in-plane angle $\varphi ={45}^{\circ }$, which was not observed in the experiment. In reality, the Néel ordering vector is likely uncorrelated between adjacent layers, so that there is no coherent interlayer transport of hole-pocket quasiparticles in the SDW scenario, and consequently no Yamaji effect. Our results support the ${\mathrm{FL}}^{*}$ interpretation of Fermi arcs in the pseudogap phase and establish Yamaji angle measurements as a discriminatory tool between theoretical models.

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• Electrical conductivity
• Fermi surface
• Fractionalization
• Pseudogap
• Spin density waves
• Spin liquid
• High-temperature superconductors
• Strongly correlated systems
• Boltzmann theory