Low-energy spin and charge excitations of one-dimensional interacting
fermions are completely decoupled and propagate with different velocities.
These modes however can decay due to several possible mechanisms. In this paper
we expose a new facet of spin-charge separation: not only the speeds but also
the damping rates of spin and charge excitations are different. While the
propagation of long-wavelength charge excitations is essentially ballistic,
spin propagation is intrinsically damped and diffusive. We suggest that cold
Fermi gases trapped inside a tight atomic waveguide offer the opportunity to
measure the spin-drag relaxation rate that controls the broadening of a spin
packet.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitte
