Consider an explicitly stipulated dilute independent spin-one-half two-level system with zero applied magnetic field. Each constituent has and , with constant signed gyromagnetic ratio . Ignore interactions and the specimen's own magnetic field. At positive temperature , thermal equilibrium with the rotating lattice gives energy levels . Define the dimensionless variable , where is the reduced Planck constant and is the Boltzmann constant. The partition function and Boltzmann distribution give
Taking the expected value gives
where is number density. This is the rotational version of the independent-moment magnetic response. The angular momentum aligns with positive rotation even when the magnetic moment points oppositely. The probability ratio provides a direct population check of the sign.
For , expand the hyperbolic tangent to obtain
The slope against is positive for either sign of , while the slope against has the sign of . At fixed , reversing reverses both means, and gives zero. At fixed nonzero , the formal limit saturates at ; the linear approximation must not be extrapolated there. At , the response vanishes. These limits describe the toy canonical ensemble, whose equilibration is assumed.
Figure 1. . Original calculated Independent spin Barnett response, with . The left panel reaches the formal saturation limits; the right panel is the extremely small-polarization room-temperature regime. The stipulated inputs describe a toy collection of independent spins; neither panel represents measurements of a ferromagnet or a fit to the gadolinium experiment. Details.
For a numerical example, stipulate , , , and rotation frequency . With , , and , the model gives
These are teaching inputs and calculated outputs, not measured material values. The corresponding internal angular momentum density is . Keeping a rotor at prescribed while its internal angular momentum changes requires the drive to supply the appropriate angular impulse. In an isolated body the mechanical part instead changes oppositely, as in magnetomechanical angular momentum balance. There is no creation of net angular momentum by choosing a rotating frame.
Magnetic susceptibility Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-13
Magnetic susceptibility describes how readily a magnetic field changes a material's magnetization. The field variable and normalization matter: volume magnetic susceptibility in the International System of Units is dimensionless, whereas a derivative of total magnetic moment with respect to has units of . A slope measured against the applied magnetic field intensity also depends on the sample's demagnetizing field.
For an isotropic, reversible linear response through the origin, write
Here is magnetization, or magnetic moment per volume; is the internal magnetic field intensity; is the internal magnetic flux density; and is the vacuum permeability. Both and have units . The magnetic permeability is . [ref]
The independent-moment magnetic response below shows why one number cannot describe every field: magnetization approaches a saturation magnetization, while its differential magnetic susceptibility approaches zero. Anisotropy requires a magnetic susceptibility tensor; hysteresis requires specifying the preparation and sweep branch as well as the bias magnetic field, temperature, and timescale. The Gouy balance turns a small response into a measurable force without presuming that its readout is already the intrinsic volume magnetic susceptibility.
Saturation magnetization 2026-10-14
Saturation magnetization is the limiting magnetization when the responding magnetic moments are fully aligned within the stated model or experimental regime. In independent-moment magnetic response, . Reaching a large magnetization does not imply a large differential magnetic susceptibility: the remaining slope can be almost zero.