Anomalous magnetic dipole moment

In quantum electrodynamics, the anomalous magnetic moment of a particle is a contribution of effects of quantum mechanics, expressed by Feynman diagrams with loops, to the magnetic moment of that particle.

The "Dirac" magnetic moment, corresponding to tree-level Feynman diagrams, can be calculated from the Dirac equation. It is usually expressed in terms of the g-factor; the Dirac equation predicts $g\; =\; 2$. For particles such as the electron, this classical result differs from the observed value by a small fraction of a percent. The difference is the anomalous magnetic moment, denoted $a$ and defined as

:$a\; =\; frac\{g-2\}\{2\}$

The one-loop contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron is found by calculating the vertex function shown in the diagram on the right. The calculation is relatively straightforward [See section 6.3 of Michael E. Peskin and Daniel V. Schroeder, "An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory", Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1995.] and the one-loop result is:

:$a\; =\; frac\{alpha\}\{2\; pi\}\; approx\; .0011614$

where $alpha$ is the fine structure constant.This result was first found by Schwinger in 1948. [J. Schwinger, "Phys. Rev." 73, 416L (1948)] As of 1997, the coefficients of the QED formula for the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron have been calculated through order $alpha^4$. The QED prediction agrees with the experimentally measured value to more than 10 significant figures, making the magnetic moment of the electron the most accurately verified prediction in the history of physics. (See precision tests of QED for details.)

The anomalous magnetic moment of the muon is calculated in a similar way; its measurement provides a precision test of the Standard Model. The prediction for the value of the muon anomalous magnetic moment includes three parts: α_μ^SM = α_μ^QED + α_μ^EW + α_μ^had. The first two components represent the photon and lepton loops, and the W boson and Z boson loops, respectively, and can be calculated precisely from first principles. The third term represents hadron loops, and cannot be calculated accurately from theory alone. It is estimated from experimental measurements of the ratio of hadronic to muonic cross sections (R) in e⁺e^- collisons. As of November 2006, the measurement disagrees with the Standard Model by 3.4 standard deviations [cite journal
last = Hagiwara
first = K.
authorlink = Hagiwara
coauthors = Martin, A. D. and Nomura, Daisuke and Teubner, T.
title = Improved predictions for g-2 of the muon and alpha(QED)(M(Z)**2)
date = 2006
url = http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0611102
format = abstract] , suggesting beyond the Standard Model physics may be having an effect.

Composite particles often have a huge anomalous magnetic moment. This is true for the proton, which is made up of charged quarks, and the neutron, which has a magnetic moment even though it is electrically neutral.

Notes

ee also

* anomalous electric dipole moment
* g-factor

External links

* [http://www.g-2.bnl.gov/physics/index.html Overview of the "g-2" experiment]