Spin-drag relaxation time in one-dimensional spin-polarized Fermi gases

Abstract

Spin propagation in systems of one- dimensional interacting fermions at finite temperature is intrinsically diffusive. The spreading rate of a spin packet is controlled by a transport coefficient termed “spin drag” relaxation time τsd. In this paper we present both numerical and analytical calculations of τsd for a two-component spin-polarized cold Fermi gas trapped inside a tight atomic waveguide. At low temperatures we find an activation law for τsd, in agreement with earlier calculations of Coulomb drag between slightly asymmetric quantum wires, but with a different and much stronger temperature dependence of the prefactor. Our results provide a fundamental input for microscopic time-dependent spin-density functional theory calculations of spin transport in one-dimensional inhomogeneous systems of interacting fermions.