Spin waves in cold gases with nondegenerate levels

The existence of spin waves of a new type is predicted for ultracold paramagnetic gases with nondegenerate energy levels. The waves are generated by creating a nonequilibrium population in the absence of external polarization and are damped not only by diffusion, but also by a previously ignored mechanism due to level splitting. Theoretical calculations are in fair agreement with experimental observations of spin waves in magnetically trapped clouds of rubidium atoms.