Universal prethermal dynamics in Heisenberg ferromagnets

Abstract: We study the universal far from equilibrium dynamics of magnons in Heisenberg ferromagnets. We show that such systems exhibit universal scaling in momentum and time of the quasiparticle distribution function, with the universal exponents distinct from those recently observed in Bose-Einstein condensates. This new universality class originates from the SU(2) symmetry of the Hamiltonian, which leads to a strong momentum-dependent magnon-magnon scattering amplitude. We compute the universal exponents using the Boltzmann kinetic equation and incoherent initial conditions that can be realized with microwave pumping of magnons. We compare our numerical results with analytic estimates of the scaling exponents and demonstrate the robustness of the scaling to variations in the initial conditions. Our predictions can be tested in quench experiments of spin systems in optical lattices and pump-probe experiments in ferromagnetic insulators such as yttrium iron garnet.