A novel magnetic class blending ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, termed altermagnetism, has gained significant attention for its staggered order in coordinate and momentum spaces, time-reversal symmetry-breaking phenomena, and promising applications in spintronics. Ruthenium dioxide (${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$) has been considered a candidate material for altermagnetism, yet the presence of magnetic moments on Ru atoms remains a subject of debate. In this study, we systematically investigated the magnetic properties of ${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$ powder using nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements. The NQR spectra show that there is no internal magnetic field. Furthermore, the temperature independence of spin-lattice relaxation rate, $1/T_{1}T$, proves that there are no magnetic fluctuations. Our results unambiguously demonstrate that Ru atoms in ${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$ possess neither static magnetic moments nor fluctuating magnetic moments, and thus ${\mathrm{RuO}}_2$ does not possess the magnetic characteristics essential for altermagnetism.

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• Altermagnetism
• Altermagnets
• Magnetic moment
• Nuclear quadrupole resonance