Magnetic Moment of Negative Muons

Abstract

The magnetic moment of negative muons bound in atoms of carbon, oxygen (in water), magnesium (metallic and in Mg${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$), silicon, and sulfur has been measured with a precision ranging from 3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$ in carbon to 1.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ in sulfur. The measured moment is corrected for relativistic effects, diamagnetism, and nuclear polarization before being compared to the moment of the positive muon. The two moments are found to be equal to 3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$, where the major uncertainty is due to Knight shift. The relativistic, diamagnetic, nuclear, and solid-state shifts are large enough compared to the statistical and systematic errors to make this technique usable for the investigation of these effects.