TY - JOUR A1 - Anders, Janet A1 - Sait, Connor R. J. A1 - Horsley, Simon A. R. T1 - Quantum Brownian motion for magnets JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - Spin precession in magnetic materials is commonly modelled with the classical phenomenological Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation. Based on a quantized three-dimensional spin + environment Hamiltonian, we here derive a spin operator equation of motion that describes precession and includes a general form of damping that consistently accounts for memory, coloured noise and quantum statistics. The LLG equation is recovered as its classical, Ohmic approximation. We further introduce resonant Lorentzian system-reservoir couplings that allow a systematic comparison of dynamics between Ohmic and non-Ohmic regimes. Finally, we simulate the full non-Markovian dynamics of a spin in the semi-classical limit. At low temperatures, our numerical results demonstrate a characteristic reduction and flattening of the steady state spin alignment with an external field, caused by the quantum statistics of the environment. The results provide a powerful framework to explore general three-dimensional dissipation in quantum thermodynamics. KW - open quantum systems KW - coloured and quantum noise KW - memory effects KW - spin KW - dynamics KW - LLG equation KW - magnetisation KW - quantum thermodynamics Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac4ef2 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 24 IS - 3 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -