  Two complementary effects modify the GHz magnetization dynamics of nanoscale
heterostructures of ferromagnetic and normal materials relative to those of the
isolated magnetic constituents: On the one hand, a time-dependent ferromagnetic
magnetization pumps a spin angular-momentum flow into adjacent materials and,
on the other hand, spin angular momentum is transferred between ferromagnets by
an applied bias, causing mutual torques on the magnetizations. These phenomena
are manifestly nonlocal: they are governed by the entire spin-coherent region
that is limited in size by spin-flip relaxation processes. We review recent
progress in understanding the magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic
heterostructures from first principles, focusing on the role of spin pumping in
layered structures. The main body of the theory is semiclassical and based on a
mean-field Stoner or spin-density--functional picture, but quantum-size effects
and the role of electron-electron correlations are also discussed. A growing
number of experiments support the theoretical predictions. The formalism should
be useful to understand the physics and to engineer the characteristics of
small devices such as magnetic random-access memory elements.
