  Relaxation of electronic spins in metals is significantly enhanced whenever a
Fermi surface crosses Brillouin zone boundaries, special symmetry points, or
lines of accidental degeneracy. A realistic calculation shows that if aluminum
had one valence electron, its spin relaxation would be slower by nearly two
orders of magnitude. This not only solves a longstanding experimental puzzle,
but also provides a way of tailoring spin dynamics of electrons in a conduction
band.
