I know as a fact that neutrons have spin 1/2, as spin is an angular momentum it should couple with an external magnetic field, so that means that the neutron is interacting with B and has q=0, so iḿ confused is this interaction an electromagnetic one and im forgeting that neutron has an internal structure and so it has a local charge (maybe the quarks)? or just a property of angular momentum?
1 Answer
It is a consequence of the fact that there are three teeny little guys (i.e., quarks, in a bound state with no specific quantum numbers) running around in circles at top speed inside what we call a neutron, and that those little guys carry charge, and that their individual magnetic moments will be so distributed as to sum to a consistent nonzero value as measured from outside the neutron.
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1$\begingroup$ The phrase “at any particular instant” might give the misimpression that the neutron’s magnetic moment is not a constant; it is in fact about 50 nano-eV per tesla at every instant. $\endgroup$– rob ♦Jan 23, 2022 at 4:57
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$\begingroup$ @rob maybe add to that that the neutron is in a bound state of the constituent quarks etc, and bound states have specific quantum number values. $\endgroup$– anna vJan 23, 2022 at 5:45
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