Neutron magnetic moment
The neutron magnetic moment is the magnetic moment of the neutron. It is of particular interest, as magnetic moments are created by the movement of electric charges. Since the neutron is a neutral particle, the magnetic moment is an indication of substructure, i.e. that the neutron is made of other, electrically charged particles (quarks).
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[edit] More details
There is a cloud of pi-mesons around the neutrons in result to the exchange of pi-mesons (the exchange particle of the strong force) with the other nucleons (proton and neutrons).
[edit] Value
The neutron magnetic moment is measured to be −1.9130427(5) μN, where μN is the nuclear magneton.[1]
In SI units, the neutron magnetic moment is approximately −9.6623640 × 10−27 J/T
[edit] Physical significance
The magnetic moment is negative which means that the neutron has a tendency to align antiparallel to a magnetic field rather than parallel to the field.
The non-zero magnetic moment of the neutron indicates that it is not an elementary particle, as it carries no net charge but still interacts with a magnetic field.
[edit] References
- ^ http://pdg.lbl.gov July 2006 Particle Physics Booklet, Particle Data Group
[edit] See also
- Magnetic dipole moment
- Landé g-factor
- Antineutron (whose magnetic moment is the opposite of that of the neutron)
