Electron magnetic moment (${\mathbf{\mu }}_s=-g_s{\mu }_B\mathbf{S}/\hslash$)

The electron magnetic moment couples an Electron's angular momentum to a magnetic field. Its intrinsic spin contribution isHere ${\mu }_B$ is the Bohr magneton, and $g_s$ is the positive electron spin g-factor under this sign convention. The minus sign makes magnetic dipole moment antiparallel to spin angular momentum. An Electron in a chemical atom can also contribute an orbital magnetic dipole moment; the measured response of a whole atomic level combines these contributions.

Measuring a tiny departure of $g_s$ from $2$ tests how well a theory predicts an Electron's interaction with its surroundings. The Dirac equation gives $g_s=2$ before radiative corrections; the anomalous magnetic moment makes a small correction experimentally accessible.^[ref] A useful strategy is to compare two atomic energy levels whose orbital and spin contributions have different weights, rather than trying to calibrate an absolute magnetic field more accurately.

The dimensionless coefficient in the spin part of the electron magnetic moment. It is distinct from a gyromagnetic ratio, which has units: in the angular convention, ${\gamma }_e=-g_{s}e/(2m_e)$. It is also distinct from the Landé g-factor $g_J$ of a combined atomic angular momentum and from a nuclear or hyperfine g-factor.

For spin one-half, the largest magnitude of a spin-component magnetic dipole moment is $g_s{\mu }_B/2$, not $g_s{\mu }_B$. Thus the ideal value $g_s=2$ gives one Bohr magneton. This follows directly from the spin angular momentum projections $S_z=\pm \hslash /2$.

Polykarp Kusch and Henry Michael Foley compared hyperfine structure resonance frequencies for different electronic states of gallium, indium and sodium. Their 1948 paper reports mutually consistent departures from the ratios expected with orbital factor $1$ and spin factor $2$. Comparing several states constrained the alternative explanation of perturbed atomic levels.^[ref]

The Rabi molecular beam magnetic resonance experiment explains the readout principle: a resonant transition changes an atom's magnetic response, and hence its transmitted beam signal. Kusch describes rapidly interchangeable ovens, several radio frequency oscillators and careful field homogenization. Measurements taken during monotonic field drift were reduced to a common field.^[ref]

Real hyperfine structure lines are not simply bare electronic $g_J$ times field. Nuclear magnetic moments, known interaction constants and nonlinear field dependence enter the inference.^[ref] Field homogeneity controls line broadening; alternating species addresses drift. Neither control removes an error in the atomic model. The beauty of the comparison is the separation of two problems: cancelling a shared calibration scale and testing whether several physical systems imply the same electron spin g-factor.

An original reduced model makes the cancellation explicit. Assume LS coupling, neglect nuclear spin, and write the electronic magnetic dipole moment as $-{\mu }_B(g_L\mathbf{L}+g_s\mathbf{S})/\hslash$. For $L=1$, $S=1/2$, the projection used to derive the Landé g-factor givesThese coefficients follow by substituting $J=3/2$ or $1/2$ into the angular-momentum projection formula; neither level measures pure spin alone. In a weak uniform magnetic field, adjacent electronic projections have spacing $h{f}_J=g_J{\mu }_{B}B$ when $g_J>0$. ThereforeThe common magnetic field and Bohr magneton cancel. The ratio determines $g_s/g_L$, not $g_s$ without further knowledge of $g_L$. For $g_L=1$, it gives $a_e=(R-2)/(R+1)$. Small departures from $R=2$ are magnified differently from small departures of $g_s$ from $2$; the two fractional changes should not be identified.

With the stipulated inputs $g_L=1$, $g_s=2.0024$ and ${\mu }_{B}B/h=100\mathrm{MHz}$, the two electronic frequencies are $66.5867$ and $133.4133\mathrm{MHz}$. Their ratio is approximately $2.0036043$, and inversion recovers $a_e=0.0012$. These are ideal electronic lines, not historical gallium data. Nuclear spin, mixing between levels and other deviations from LS coupling require a more complete model in an actual atom.

Even a shared field does not cancel if it is sampled at different times. Write $f_A(t)=g_{A}C(t)$ and $f_B(t)=g_{B}C(t)$, where $C(t)={\mu }_{B}B(t)/h$. As an original proposed diagnostic, bracket the $B$-state reading at $t=0$ with $A$-state readings at $t=\pm \tau$:If $C(t)=C_0(1+bt)$, the denominator is exactly $g_A{C}_0$, so $R_{\mathrm{bracket}}=g_B/g_A$. A single earlier $A$ reading instead gives $R_{\mathrm{unpaired}}=(g_B/g_A)/(1-b\tau )$. For the preceding numerical model and $b\tau =0.001$, this unpaired comparison falsely gives approximately $a_e=0.00186649$; interpolation recovers $0.0012$. The sequence illustrates cancellation and is not asserted to be Kusch and Foley's exact historical timing protocol.

For a curved field $C(t)=C_0(1+bt+c{t}^2)$, the same calculation givesThe linear drift cancels but the curvature remains. Different fields sampled by the two beams, additive frequency offsets and incorrect atomic corrections also survive. For a small ratio error $\delta R$, direct differentiation of the inverse relation givesRepeated readings can reduce random measurement uncertainty; agreement among genuinely different state comparisons is what tests shared systematic errors in their interpretation.