Nonlocal damping of helimagnets in one-dimensional interacting electron systems

Abstract

We investigate the magnetization relaxation of a one-dimensional helimagnetic system coupled to interacting itinerant electrons. The relaxation is assumed to result from the emission of plasmons, the elementary excitations of the one-dimensional interacting electron system, caused by slow changes of the magnetization profile. This dissipation mechanism leads to a highly nonlocal form of magnetization damping that is strongly dependent on the electron-electron interaction. Forward scattering processes lead to a spatially constant damping kernel, while backscattering processes produce a spatially oscillating contribution. Due to the nonlocal damping, the thermal fluctuations become spatially correlated over the entire system. We estimate the characteristic magnetization relaxation times for magnetic quantum wires and nuclear helimagnets.