  We study theoretically the far-from-equilibrium relaxation dynamics of spin
spiral states in the three dimensional isotropic Heisenberg model. The
investigated problem serves as an archetype for understanding quantum dynamics
of isolated many-body systems in the vicinity of a spontaneously broken
continuous symmetry. We present a field-theoretical formalism that
systematically improves on mean-field for describing the real-time quantum
dynamics of generic spin-1/2 systems. This is achieved by mapping spins to
Majorana fermions followed by a 1/N expansion of the resulting two-particle
irreducible (2PI) effective action. Our analysis reveals rich
fluctuation-induced relaxation dynamics in the unitary evolution of spin spiral
states. In particular, we find the sudden appearance of long-lived
prethermalized plateaus with diverging lifetimes as the spiral winding is tuned
toward the thermodynamically stable ferro- or antiferromagnetic phases. The
emerging prethermalized states are characterized by different bosonic modes
being thermally populated at different effective temperatures, and by a
hierarchical relaxation process reminiscent of glassy systems. Spin-spin
correlators found by solving the non-equilibrium Bethe-Salpeter equation
provide further insight into the dynamic formation of correlations, the fate of
unstable collective modes, and the emergence of fluctuation-dissipation
relations. Our predictions can be verified experimentally using recent
realizations of spin spiral states with ultracold atoms in a quantum gas
microscope [S. Hild, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 147205 (2014)].
