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arXiv:2609.13474

Magnon Theory of Domain Wall Wavefronts and the Ballistic Diffusive Crossover in the Classical Anisotropic Landau Lifshitz Spin Chain

Akash Sarkar

Published Sep 11, 2026• 0 citations

Abstract

We study the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of domain-wall initial states in the integrable lattice Landau--Lifshitz spin chain. Building on the linear spin-wave description of domain-wall spreading, we derive the long-wavelength magnon dispersion directly from the microscopic integrable Hamiltonian and use it to characterize the propagation and broadening of the resulting wavefronts. The dispersion interpolates between a quadratic form at the isotropic point and a linear form in the easy-plane regime. In the isotropic limit, the quadratic dispersion leads to diffusive broadening, whereas in the easy-plane regime the domain-wall front propagates ballistically. Keeping the leading nonlinear correction to the linear dispersion gives a cubic dispersive term, which produces a characteristic $t^{1/3}$ broadening of the ballistic front. We further show that the sign of this cubic correction changes at a critical anisotropy, leading to a reversal of the dispersive wake from trailing to advancing. The resulting critical point occurs at $Δ_c=1/7$, corresponding to $γ_c\simeq 1.047$. Numerical simulations of the full nonlinear spin dynamics confirm the analytical scaling and demonstrate the coexistence of the amplitude-independent spin-wave front with amplitude-dependent nonlinear soliton propagation.

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2609.13474

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We study the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of domain-wall initial states in the integrable lattice Landau--Lifshitz spin chain. Building on the linear spin-wave description of domain-wall spreading, we derive the long-wavelength magnon dispersion directly from the microscopic integrable Hamiltonian and use it to characterize the propagation and broadening of the resulting wavefronts. The dispersion interpolates between a quadratic form at the isotropic point and a linear form in the easy-plane regime. In the isotropic limit, the quadratic dispersion leads to diffusive broadening, whereas in the easy-plane regime the domain-wall front propagates ballistically. Keeping the leading nonlinear correction to the linear dispersion gives a cubic dispersive term, which produces a characteristic

t^{1/3}

broadening of the ballistic front. We further show that the sign of this cubic correction changes at a critical anisotropy, leading to a reversal of the dispersive wake from trailing to advancing. The resulting critical point occurs at

Δ_c=1/7

, corresponding to

γ_c\simeq 1.047

. Numerical simulations of the full nonlinear spin dynamics confirm the analytical scaling and demonstrate the coexistence of the amplitude-independent spin-wave front with amplitude-dependent nonlinear soliton propagation.

The nonequilibrium dynamics of domain wall initial states in a classical anisotropic Heisenberg chain exhibits a striking coexistence of apparently linear and nonlinear behaviors: the propagation and spreading of the domain wall can be captured quantitatively by linear, i.e., noninteracting, spin wave theory absent its usual justifications; while, simultaneously, for a wide range of easy-plane anisotropies, emission can take the place of stable solitons-a process and objects intrinsically associated with interactions and nonlinearities. The easy-axis domain wall only has transient dynamics, the isotropic one broadens diffusively, while the easy-plane one yields a pair of ballistically counterpropagating domain walls which, unusually, broaden subdiffusively, their width scaling as t^{1/3}.

We study the nonequilibrium spin dynamics in the nonintegrable spin-1 XXZ chains, emerging from inhomogeneous quenches, with two halves initialized in distinct maximally polarized states. Employing the time-dependent variational principle (TDVP) we are able to reach times that are inaccessible by standard time-dependent density matrix renormalization group methods. We identify three distinct phases depending on the anisotropy of the chain, corresponding to diffusive, logarithmic superdiffusive, and insulating. In the easy-axis regime we observe a transient ballistic behavior with a crossover time that diverges as the isotropic point is approached. This leads us to the conclusion that on the intermediate-large timescales the spin dynamics is well described by the integrable Landau-Lifshitz classical differential equation.

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