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    Origin of muon spin relaxation and frequency shift in frozen water explained by spin-dipole quantum coherences

    Amba Datt Pant1,2,*, Akihiro Koda1,2,3, Burkhard Geil4, Katsuhiko Ishida1,2, Anjan Dahal5, Anup Shrestha5, Hari Shankar Mallik5, Jumpei G. Nakamura1,2, Shoichiro Nishimura1,2,3 et al.

    Masatoshi Hiraishi1,2 and Koichiro Shimomura1,2,3

    • *Contact author: pant@post.kek.jp

    Phys. Rev. B 114, 034106 – Published 7 July, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jvjm-bn2q

    Abstract

    To understand the origin of muon spin relaxation and frequency shift in water with temperature, we performed weak transverse-field muon spin rotation and relaxation (μSR) measurements over a temperature range of 220 K to 300 K. Using a conventional model with a phenomenological relaxation term, the spin relaxation of diamagnetic muons in frozen water (0.2473 ± 0.0061 MHz at 270 K) was found to be significantly higher than that in liquid water (0.0 ± 0.0020 MHz at 300 K). Furthermore, this conventional model reveals a non-negligible frequency shift below the freezing point. We propose a model that incorporates spin-dipole interactions between the muon in MuOH and the nearest-neighboring (first- and second-shell) protons of H2O. This model reproduced the spectra well without the need for a phenomenological relaxation term. The validity of this model and quantitative information about spin-dependent interactions were tested using MuOD in D2O under identical field and temperature conditions. We also estimated the fractions of muons precessing with the Zeeman field versus those influenced by combined spin-dipole and Zeeman interactions in H2O and D2O. This study provides deeper insights into μSR behavior in condensed matter, including water, hydrated samples, and aqueous solutions.

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