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Microscopic theory of Gilbert damping in metallic ferromagnets

We present a microscopic theory for magnetization relaxation in metallic ferromagnets of nanoscopic dimensions that is based on the dynamic spin response matrix in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Our approach allows the calculation of the spin excitation damping rate even for perfectly crystalline systems, where existing microscopic approaches fail. We demonstrate that the relaxation properties are not completely determined by the transverse susceptibility alone, and that the damping rate has a non-negligible frequency dependence in experimentally relevant situations. Our results indicate that the standard Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert phenomenology is not always appropriate to describe spin dynamics of metallic nanostructure in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling.