[Pw_forum] meaning of Lowdin charges with non-collinear magnetizations

[Yi Wang]

Dear everyone,

I'm doing a non-collinear magnetization calculation(non spin-orbit). I  
wanted to know the magnetic moment on each atom, thus I performed the  
Lowdin charge calculation with projwfc.x. The code gives the the results  
of "polarization", "spin up", "spin down", and "total charge".
I want to ask what is the physical meaning of the "polarization" under  
this non-collinear condition? I noticed its value is somehow close to the  
absolute value of the magnetization of each atom along the z axis(which is  
printed out every iteration, I read it is calculated from the charge  
integration inside a given volume, please correct me if I'm wrong), is  
that what it means? The z axis component of the magnetic moment rather  
than the total magnetic moment? or something else?

Thank you for your precious time.

-- 
Yi Wang
Ph.D candidate at Nanjing University of Science and Technology