Origin of adiabatic and non-adiabatic spin transfer torques in current-driven magnetic domain wall motion

Abstract

A consistent theory to describe the correlated dynamics of quantum mechanical itinerant spins and semiclassical local magnetization is given. We consider the itinerant spins as quantum mechanical operators, whereas local moments are considered within classical Lagrangian formalism. By appropriately treating fluctuation space spanned by basis functions, including a zero-mode wave function, we construct coupled equations of motion for the collective coordinate of the center-of-mass motion and the localized zero-mode coordinate perpendicular to the domain wall plane. By solving them, we demonstrate that the correlated dynamics is understood through a hierarchy of two time scales: Boltzmann relaxation time when a non-adiabatic part of the spin-transfer torque appears, and Gilbert damping time when adiabatic part comes up.