We analyze spin-dependent carrier dynamics due to incoherent electron-phonon scattering, which is commonly referred to as Elliott-Yafet (EY) spin-relaxation mechanism. For this mechanism one usually distinguishes two contributions: (1) from the spin-diagonal electrostatic interaction together with spin-mixing in the wave functions, which is often called the Elliott contribution, and (2) the phonon-modulated spin-orbit interaction, which is often called the Yafet or Overhauser contribution. By computing the reduced electronic density matrix, we improve Yafet's original calculation, which neglects the spin-mixing in the single-particle states for the determination of the ensemble spin. The important novel quantity in our calculation is a torque operator that determines the spin dynamics due to incoherent scattering. The contribution (1) to this torque vanishes exactly. From this general result, we derive a modified expression for the EY spin relaxation time for Kramers degenerate bands.

For the 3d ferromagnets iron, cobalt, and nickel we compute the spin-dependent inelastic electronic lifetimes due to carrier-carrier Coulomb interactions including spin-orbit coupling. We find that the spin-dependent density of states at the Fermi energy does not, in general, determine the spin dependence of the lifetimes because of the effective spin-flip transitions allowed by the spin mixing. The majority and minority electron lifetimes computed including spin-orbit coupling for these three 3d ferromagnets do not differ by more than a factor of 2, and agree with experimental results.

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We present a comprehensive study of plasmon dispersions in simple metals and Heusler compounds based on an accurate ab-initio evaluation of the momentum and frequency dependent dielectric function in the random-phase approximation. Using a momentum-dependent tetrahedron method for the computation of the dielectric function, we extract and analyze "full" and "intraband" plasmon dispersions: The "full" plasma dispersion is obtained by including all bands, the intraband plasma dispersion by including only intraband transitions. For the simple metals silver and alu- minum, we show that the intraband plasmon dispersion has an unexpected downward slope and is therefore markedly different from the results of an effective-mass electron-gas model and the full plasmon dispersion. For the two Heusler compounds Co2FeSi and Co2MnSi, we present spectra for the dielectric function, their loss functions and plasmon dispersions. The latter exhibit the same negative intraband plasmon dispersion as found in the simple metals. We also discuss the influence of spin-mixing on the plasmon dispersion

Spin and charge-current dynamics after ultrafast spin-polarized excitation in a normal metal are studied theoretically using macroscopic wave-diffusion equations for spin resolved carrier and current densities. It is shown analytically how this set of equations yields a unified description of ballistic and diffusive properties of spin and charge transport, including the intermediate regime between these two limits. In the framework of the wave-diffusion approach, ultrafast excitation of spin polarized carriers in thin gold films is modeled assuming slightly spin-dependent momentum relaxation times along with standard parameters (Fermi velocity, spin and momentum relaxationtimes). The unified treatment of diffusive and ballistic transport yields robust signatures in the spin and charge dynamics that are in qualitative agreement with recent experimental results [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 076601 (2011)]. The influence of boundary effects on the temporal signatures of spin transport is also studied.