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Gyromagnetic ratio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In physics, the gyromagnetic ratio (also sometimes known as the magnetogyric ratio in
other disciplines) of a particle or system is the ratio of its magnetic dipole moment to its
angular momentum, and it is often denoted by the symbol , gamma. Its SI unit is the
radian per second per tesla (rads1T1) or, equivalently, the coulomb per kilogram
(Ckg1).
The term "gyromagnetic ratio" is sometimes used[1] as a synonym for a different but
closely related quantity, the g-factor. The g-factor, unlike the gyromagnetic ratio, is
dimensionless. For more on the g-factor, see below, or see the article g-factor.

Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Gyromagnetic ratio and Larmor precession

Gyromagnetic ratio for a classical rotating body
Gyromagnetic ratio for an isolated electron
Gyromagnetic factor as a consequence of relativity
Gyromagnetic ratio for a nucleus
See also
References
7.1 Note 1 note
7.2 General note

Gyromagnetic ratio and Larmor precession

Any free system with a constant gyromagnetic ratio, such as a rigid system of charges, a
nucleus, or an electron, when placed in an external magnetic field B (measured in teslas)
that is not aligned with its magnetic moment, will precess at a frequency f (measured in
hertz), that is proportional to the external field:

For this reason, values of /(2), in units of hertz per tesla (Hz/T), are often quoted
instead of .
The derivation of this relation is as follows: First we must prove that the torque resulting
from subjecting a magnetic moment
to a magnetic field
is
. The
identity of the functional form of the stationary electric and magnetic fields has led to
defining the magnitude of the magnetic dipole moment equally well as
, or in
the following way, imitating the moment p of an electric dipole: The magnetic dipole can
be represented by a needle of a compass with fictitious magnetic charges
on the
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two poles and vector distance

between the poles

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two poles and vector distance between the poles under the influence of the magnetic
field of earth . By classical mechanics the torque on this needle is
But as previously stated
so the
desired formula comes up.
The model of the spinning electron we use in the derivation has an evident analogy with
a gyroscope. For any rotating body the rate of change of the angular momentum
equals the applied torque :

Note as an example the precession of a gyroscope. The earth's gravitational attraction

applies a force or torque to the gyroscope in the vertical direction, and the angular
momentum vector along the axis of the gyroscope rotates slowly about a vertical line
through the pivot. In the place of the gyroscope imagine a sphere spinning around the
axis and with its center on the pivot of the gyroscope, and along the axis of the
gyroscope two oppositely directed vectors both originated in the center of the sphere,
upwards
and downwards
Replace the gravity with a magnetic flux density B.
represents the linear velocity of the pike of the arrow
radius is
where
is the angle between
angular velocity of the rotation of the spin is

along a circle whose

and the vertical. Hence the

Consequently
This relationship also explains an apparent contradiction between the two equivalent
terms, gyromagnetic ratio versus magnetogyric ratio: whereas it is a ratio of a magnetic
property (i.e. dipole moment) to a gyric (rotational, from Greek: , "turn") property
(i.e. angular momentum), it is also, at the same time, a ratio between the angular
precession frequency (another gyric property) = 2f and the magnetic field.
The angular precession frequency has an important physical meaning: It is the angular
cyclotron frequency. The resonance frequency of an ionized plasma being under the
influence of a static finite magnetic field, when we superimpose a high frequency
electromagnetic field.

Gyromagnetic ratio for a classical rotating body

Consider a charged body rotating about an axis of symmetry. According to the laws of
classical physics, it has both a magnetic dipole moment and an angular momentum due
to its rotation. It can be shown that as long as its charge and mass are distributed
identically (e.g., both distributed uniformly), its gyromagnetic ratio is

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where q is its charge and m

is its mass. The derivation of this relation is as follows:

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where q is its charge and m is its mass. The derivation of this relation is as follows:
It suffices to demonstrate this for an infinitesimally narrow circular ring within the body,
as the general result follows from an integration. Suppose the ring has radius r, area
A = r2, mass m, charge q, and angular momentum L = mvr. Then the magnitude of the
magnetic dipole moment is

Gyromagnetic ratio for an isolated electron

An isolated electron has an angular momentum and a magnetic moment resulting from
its spin. While an electron's spin is sometimes visualized as a literal rotation about an
axis, it cannot be attributed to mass distributed identically to the charge. The above
classical relation does not hold, giving the wrong result by a dimensionless factor called
the electron g-factor, denoted ge (or just g when there is no risk of confusion):

where B is the Bohr magneton.

The gyromagnetc ratio for the self-rotation of the electron is twice bigger than the value
for an orbiting electron.
In the framework of relativistic quantum mechanics,

where
is the fine-structure constant. Here the small corrections to the relativistic result
g = 2 come from the quantum field theory. The electron g-factor is known to twelve
decimal places by measuring the electron magnetic moment in an one-electron
cyclotron: [2]

The electron gyromagnetic ratio is given by NIST[3][4] as

The g-factor and are in excellent agreement with theory; see Precision tests of QED for
details.

Gyromagnetic factor as a consequence of relativity

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Since a gyromagnetic factor

equal to 2 follows from the Dirac's equation it is a frequent 3/7

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Since a gyromagnetic factor equal to 2 follows from the Dirac's equation it is a frequent
misconception to think that a g-factor 2 is a consequence of relativity; it is not. The
factor 2 can be obtained from the linearization of both the Schrdinger equation and the
relativistic KleinGordon equation (which leads to Dirac's). In both cases a 4-spinor is
obtained and for both linearizations the g-factor is found to be equal to 2; Therefore,
the factor 2 is a consequence of the wave equation dependency on the first (and not the
second) derivatives with respect to space and time. [5]
Physical spin-1/2 particles which can not be described by the linear gauged Dirac
e
equation satisfy the gauged Klein-Gordon equation extended by the g 4 F term
according to,

1
Here, 2 and F stand for the Lorentz group generators in the Dirac space, and the
electromagnetic tensor respectively, while A is the electromagnetic four-potential. An
example for such a particle, according to, [6] is the spin-1/2 companion to spin-3/2 in the
D(1/2,1))D(1,1/2) representation space of the Lorentz group. This particle has been
shown to be characterized by g = -2/3 and consequently to behave as a truly quadratic
fermion.

Gyromagnetic ratio for a nucleus

Protons, neutrons, and many nuclei carry nuclear spin, which gives rise to a gyromagnetic
ratio as above. The ratio is conventionally written in terms of the proton mass and
charge, even for neutrons and for other nuclei, for the sake of simplicity and consistency.
The formula is:

where
is the nuclear magneton, and
question.

is the g-factor of the nucleon or nucleus in

The gyromagnetic ratio of a nucleus plays a role in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These procedures rely on the fact that bulk
magnetization due to nuclear spins precess in a magnetic field at a rate called the
Larmor frequency, which is simply the product of the gyromagnetic ratio with the
magnetic field strength. With this phenomenon, the sign of determines the sense
(clockwise vs counterclockwise) of precession.
Most common nuclei such as 1H and 13C have positive gyromagnetic ratios. [7][8]
Approximate values for some common nuclei are given in the table below. [9][10]

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The sign of the gyromagnetic ratio, ,

determines the sense of precession.
Nuclei such as 1H and 13C are said to
have clockwise precession, whereas
15N

has counterclockwise

precession. [7][8] While the magnetic

moments shown here are oriented the
same for both cases of , the spin
angular momentum are in opposite
directions. Spin and magnetic moment
are in the same direction for > 0.

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(106 rad s1 T 1 )

Nucleus

(MHz T 1 )

1H

267.513

42.576

2H

41.065

6.536

3He

203.789

32.434

7Li

103.962

16.546

13C

67.262

10.705

14N

19.331

3.077

15N

27.116

4.316

17O

36.264

5.772

19F

251.662

40.052

23Na

70.761

11.262

27Al

69.763

11.103

29Si

53.190

8.465

31P

108.291

17.235

57Fe

8.681

1.382

63Cu

71.118

11.319

67Zn

16.767

2.669

129Xe

73.997

11.777

See also
Charge-to-mass ratio
Chemical shift
Dirac Equation
Land g-factor
Larmor equation
Protongyromagnetic ratio

References
Note 1 note
^Note 1: Marc Knecht, The Anomalous Magnetic Moments of the Electron and the
Muon (http://parthe.lpthe.jussieu.fr/poincare/textes/octobre2002/Knecht.ps),
Poincar Seminar (Paris, Oct. 12, 2002), published in: Duplantier, Bertrand;
Rivasseau, Vincent (Eds.); Poincar Seminar 2002, Progress in Mathematical Physics
30, Birkhuser (2003), ISBN 3-7643-0579-7.
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General note
1. For example, see: D.C. Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd ed., page 1017. Or see:
P.A. Tipler and R.A. Llewellyn, Modern Physics, 4th ed., page 309.
2. B Odom, D Hanneke, B D'Urso and G Gabrielse (2006). "New measurement of the electron
magnetic moment using a one-electron quantum cyclotron". Physical Review Letters 97 (3):
030801. Bibcode:2006PhRvL..97c0801O. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.030801. PMID16907490.
3. NIST: Electron gyromagnetic ratio (http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?gammae). Note that
NIST puts a positive sign on the quantity; however, to be consistent with the formulas in this
article, a negative sign is put on here. Indeed, many references say that < 0 for an electron; for
example, Weil and Bolton, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (Wiley 2007), page 578. Also note that
the units of radians are added for clarity.
4. NIST: Electron gyromagnetic ratio over 2 pi (http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?gammaebar)
5. Greiner, Walter. Quantum Mechanics: An Introduction. Springer Verlag. ISBN9783540674580.
6. E. G. Delgado Acosta, V. M. Banda Guzmn, M. Kirchbach (2015). "Gyromagnetic gs factors of the

7.
8.
9.
10.

spin-1/2 particles in the (1/2+-1/2--3/2-) triad of the four-vector spinor, , irreducibility and
linearity". International Journal of Modern Physics E 24 (07): 1550060.
doi:10.1142/S0218301315500603.
M H Levitt (2008). Spin Dynamics. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN0470511176.
Arthur G Palmer (2007). Protein NMR Spectroscopy. Elsevier Academic Press. ISBN012164491X.
M A Bernstein, K F King and X J Zhou (2004). Handbook of MRI Pulse Sequences. San Diego:
Elsevier Academic Press. p.960. ISBN0-12-092861-2.
R C Weast, M J Astle, ed. (1982). Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
p.E66. ISBN0-8493-0463-6.

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