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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.13751 |
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Table of Contents:
- On the textbook example of an isolated antiferromagnetic Heisenberg dimer, we demonstrate that the magnetic form factor and the magnetic electron density distribution can be extracted from the momentum-dependence of the inelastic neutron scattering (INS) intensity of a magnetic excitation. We measure the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic structure factor of the singlet-to-triplet excitation in Cu(II) acetate monohydrate with INS. Using a minimal parametrization of the magnetic electron density, we deduce the real-space density of the spin-entangled electrons and the transfer of magnetic electron density between metal and ligand atoms from the experimental data. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reproduce the measured structure factor quantitatively, providing a direct validation of DFT broken-symmetry spin densities against full 3D INS data. The quantitative agreement between experiment, parametrization, and theory establishes a robust framework for determining magnetic form factors and the magnetic electron density in a broad range of magnetic materials and demonstrates INS as a probe of the envelope of spatial electronic wavefunctions.