Magnons are the elementary excitations of the magnetic order that carry spin, momentum, and energy. Here we compare the magnon with the ferron, i.e. the elementary excitation of the electric dipolar order that transports polarization and heat in ferroelectrics.
We present a semiclassical theory of spin-diffusion in a ferromagnetic metal subject to a temperature gradient. Spin-flip scattering can generate pure thermal spin currents by short-circuiting spin channels while suppressing spin accumulations. A the
rmally induced spin density is locally generated when the energy dependence of the density of states is spin polarized.
