We study spin-1/2 fermions in spin dependent potentials under the emph{spin model approximation}, in which interatomic collisions that change the total occupation of single-particle modes are ignored. The spin model approximation maps the interacting fermion problem to an ensemble of lattice spin models in energy space, where spin-spin interactions are long-ranged and spin-anisotropic. We show that the spin model approximation is accurate for weak interactions compared to the harmonic oscillator frequency, and captures the collective spin dynamics to timescales much longer than would be expected from perturbation theory. We explore corrections to the spin model, and the relative importance of corrections when realistic anharmonic potential corrections are taken into account. Additionally, we present numerical techniques that are useful for analysis of spin models on an energy lattice, including enacting a change of single-particle basis on a many-body state as an effective time evolution, and fitting of spatially inhomogeneous long-range interactions with exponentials. This latter technique is useful for constructing matrix product operators for use in DMRG analyses, and may have broader applicability within the tensor network community.
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