A Bayesian approach to magnetic moment determination using muSR

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Bayesian method to determine magnetic moments in muSR experiments by calculating the probability distribution of magnetic moments based on observed precession frequencies, accounting for uncertainties in muon site locations.

Contribution

It presents a novel Bayesian framework for magnetic moment determination in muSR, incorporating site uncertainty and enabling analysis of complex magnetic systems.

Findings

Successfully applied to real systems including osmate compounds and molecular magnets.

Provides probabilistic estimates of magnetic moments from experimental data.

Enhances accuracy of magnetic moment determination in zero-field muSR experiments.

Abstract

A significant challenge in zero-field muSR experiments arises from the uncertainty in the muon site. It is possible to calculate the dipole field (and hence precession frequency nu) at any particular site given the magnetic moment mu and magnetic structure. One can also evaluate f(nu), the probability distribution function of nu assuming that the muon site can be anywhere within the unit cell with equal probability, excluding physically forbidden sites. Since nu is obtained from experiment, what we would like to know is g(mu|nu), the probability density function of mu given the observed nu. This can be obtained from our calculated f(nu/mu) using Bayes' theorem. We describe an approach to this problem which we have used to extract information about real systems including a low-moment osmate compound, a family of molecular magnets, and an iron-arsenide compound.