Monopoles, magnetricity and the stray field from spin ice

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of muons in low-temperature spin ice, demonstrating how macroscopic stray fields influence experimental results and proposing a model that aligns with observed data, highlighting persistent spin dynamics potentially induced by muon implantation.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model explaining muon behavior in spin ice, accounting for stray field effects and suggesting a muon-induced origin of persistent spin dynamics.

Findings

Macroscopic stray fields explain muon experiment results.

The model aligns well with experimental observations.

Persistent spin dynamics may be caused by muon implantation.

Abstract

An analysis is presented of the behaviour of muons in the low-temperature state in spin ice. It is shown in detail how the behavior observed in some previous muon experiments on spin ice in a weak transverse field may result from the macroscopic stray field of magnetized spin ice. A model is presented which allows these macroscopic field effects to be simulated and the results agree with experiment. The persistent spin dynamics at low temperature originate from the sample and could be a muon-induced implantation effect that is operative in out-of-equilibrium systems with long relaxation times.