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Algorithms for magnetic symmetry operation search and identification of magnetic space group from magnetic crystal structure

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aDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan, bResearch and Services Division of Materials Data and Integrated System, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan, cCenter for Elements Strategy Initiative for Structural Materials, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan, and dNanostructures Research Laboratory, Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya 456-8587, Japan
*Correspondence e-mail: [email protected]

Edited by S. J. L. Billinge, Columbia University, USA (Received 28 November 2022; accepted 6 June 2023; online 6 September 2023)

A crystal symmetry search is crucial for computational crystallography and materials science. Although algorithms and implementations for the crystal symmetry search have been developed, their extension to magnetic space groups (MSGs) remains limited. In this paper, algorithms for determining magnetic symmetry operations of magnetic crystal structures, identifying magnetic space-group types of given MSGs, searching for transformations to a Belov–Neronova–Smirnova (BNS) setting, and symmetrizing the magnetic crystal structures using the MSGs are presented. The determination of magnetic symmetry operations is numerically stable and is implemented with minimal modifications from the existing crystal symmetry search. Magnetic space-group types and transformations to the BNS setting are identified by a two-step approach combining space-group-type identification and the use of affine normalizers. Point coordinates and magnetic moments of the magnetic crystal structures are symmetrized by projection operators for the MSGs. An implementation is distributed with a permissive free software license in spglib v2.0.2: https://github.com/spglib/spglib.

1. Introduction

A crystal symmetry search and the standardization of crystal structures play crucial roles in computational materials science. For example, symmetry operations are required in irreducible representations of electronic states (Gao et al., 2021[Gao, J., Wu, Q., Persson, C. & Wang, Z. (2021). Comput. Phys. Commun. 261, 107760.]), band paths (Hinuma et al., 2017[Hinuma, Y., Pizzi, G., Kumagai, Y., Oba, F. & Tanaka, I. (2017). Comput. Mater. Sci. 128, 140-184.]), phonon calculations (Togo & Tanaka, 2015[Togo, A. & Tanaka, I. (2015). Scr. Mater. 108, 1-5.]; Togo et al., 2015[Togo, A., Chaput, L. & Tanaka, I. (2015). Phys. Rev. B, 91, 094306.]), a random structure search (Fredericks et al., 2021[Fredericks, S., Parrish, K., Sayre, D. & Zhu, Q. (2021). Comput. Phys. Commun. 261, 107810.]) and crystal structure description (Ganose & Jain, 2019[Ganose, A. M. & Jain, A. (2019). MRS Commun. 9, 874-881.]). Moreover, the standardization of crystal structures is indispensable for comparing crystal structures in different settings and analyzing magnetic crystal structures in high-throughput first-principles calculations (Horton et al., 2019[Horton, M. K., Montoya, J. H., Liu, M. & Persson, K. A. (2019). npj Comput. Mater. 5, 64.]).

Owing to the development of a computer-friendly description of space groups (Hall, 1981[Hall, S. R. (1981). Acta Cryst. A37, 517-525.]; Shmueli et al., 2010[Shmueli, U., Hall, S. & Grosse-Kunstleve, R. (2010). International Tables for Crystallography, edited by U. Shmueli, Vol. B, ch. 1.4, 3rd ed., pp. 114-174. Chichester: Wiley.]) and algorithms (Opgenorth et al., 1998[Opgenorth, J., Plesken, W. & Schulz, T. (1998). Acta Cryst. A54, 517-531.]; Grosse-Kunstleve, 1999[Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W. (1999). Acta Cryst. A55, 383-395. ]; Grosse-Kunstleve & Adams, 2002[Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W. & Adams, P. D. (2002). Acta Cryst. A58, 60-65.]; Eick & Souvignier, 2006[Eick, B. & Souvignier, B. (2006). Int. J. Quantum Chem. 106, 316-343.]), we can automatically perform the crystal symmetry search nowadays. For example, spglib implements the symmetry-search algorithm and an iterative method to robustly determine crystal symmetries (Togo & Tanaka, 2018[Togo, A. & Tanaka, I. (2018). Spglib: a Software Library for Crystal Symmetry Search. https://github.com/spglib/spglib.]), which one of the authors has developed and maintained.

On the other hand, algorithms and implementations for magnetic space groups (MSGs) (Litvin, 2016[Litvin, D. B. (2016). International Tables for Crystallography, edited by M. I. Aroyo, Vol. A, ch. 3.6, 6th ed., pp. 852-865. Chichester: Wiley.]) are limited. MSGs are essential when we consider time-reversal operations or magnetic crystal structures. To the best of our knowledge, existing implementations only partly provide MSG functionalities. AFLOW-SYM (Hicks et al., 2018[Hicks, D., Oses, C., Gossett, E., Gomez, G., Taylor, R. H., Toher, C., Mehl, M. J., Levy, O. & Curtarolo, S. (2018). Acta Cryst. A74, 184-203.]) proposed and implemented a robust space-group analysis algorithm; however, it does not seem to support MSGs yet. IDENTIFY MAGNETIC GROUP (Perez-Mato et al., 2015[Perez-Mato, J., Gallego, S., Tasci, E., Elcoro, L., de la Flor, G. & Aroyo, M. (2015). Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 45, 217-248.]) in the Bilbao Crystallographic Server (Aroyo et al., 2011[Aroyo, M. I., Perez-Mato, J. M., Orobengoa, D., Tasci, E., de la Flor, G. & Kirov, A. (2011). Bulg. Chem. Commun. 43, 183-197.]) and CrysFML2008 (Rodríguez-Carvajal, 1993[Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (1993). Physica B, 192, 55-69. ]; González-Platas et al., 2021[González-Platas, J., Katcho, N. A. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2021). J. Appl. Cryst. 54, 338-342.]) can identify MSGs from magnetic symmetry operations; however, the determination of magnetic symmetry operations from magnetic crystal structures is not supported. FINDSYM (Stokes & Hatch, 2005[Stokes, H. T. & Hatch, D. M. (2005). J. Appl. Cryst. 38, 237-238.]; Stokes et al., 2022[Stokes, H. T., Hatch, D. M. & Campbell, B. J. (2022). Findsym. https://stokes.byu.edu/iso/findsym.php.]) supports the determination of magnetic symmetry operations and the identification of MSGs; however, the source code is not freely available.

Here, we present algorithms for determining magnetic symmetry operations of given magnetic crystal structures, identifying magnetic space-group types of given MSGs, searching for transformations to a Belov–Neronova–Smirnova (BNS) setting, and symmetrizing the magnetic crystal structures on the basis of the determined MSGs. Note that the implementation of these algorithms is virtually unattainable without recent developments in crystallography. Litvin (2014[Litvin, D. B. (2014). Magnetic Group Tables. IUCr, https://www.iucr.org/publ/978-0-9553602-2-0.]) provided extensive tables for the 1651 MSGs. ISO-MAG (https://iso.byu.edu/iso/magneticspacegroups.php) provides tables of MSGs in both human- and computer-readable formats. Magnetic Hall symbols (González-Platas et al., 2021[González-Platas, J., Katcho, N. A. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2021). J. Appl. Cryst. 54, 338-342.]) and unified (UNI) MSG symbols (Campbell et al., 2022[Campbell, B. J., Stokes, H. T., Perez-Mato, J. M. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2022). Acta Cryst. A78, 99-106.]) have been developed to represent MSGs or magnetic space-group types unambiguously, which are based on BNS symbols (Belov et al., 1957[Belov, N. V., Neronova, N. N. & Smirnova, T. S. (1957). Sov. Phys. Crystallogr. 2, 311-322.]; Bradley & Cracknell, 2009[Bradley, C. & Cracknell, A. P. (2009). The Mathematical Theory of Symmetry in Solids. Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences. London: Oxford University Press.]). In this paper, we use the magnetic Hall symbols and the MSG data sets tabulated by González-Platas et al. (2021[González-Platas, J., Katcho, N. A. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2021). J. Appl. Cryst. 54, 338-342.]). The implementation is distributed under the BSD 3-clause license in spglib v2.0.2.

This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2[link], we recall the mathematical structures of MSGs and present definitions and terminology for describing MSGs. In Section 3[link], we provide an algorithm for determining magnetic symmetry operations of a given magnetic crystal structure on the basis of equivalence relationships between sites in the magnetic crystal structure. In Section 4[link], we provide an algorithm to identify a magnetic space-group type of the determined MSG and to search for a transformation from the determined MSG to one in the BNS setting. In Section 5[link], we provide an algorithm to symmetrize point coordinates and magnetic moments of the magnetic crystal structure from the determined MSG.

2. Definitions

Before we discuss algorithms for MSGs and magnetic crystal structures, we describe definitions and terminology for MSGs. In Section 2.1[link], we define MSGs and derived space groups, which are essential in identifying a magnetic space-group type and searching for a transformation between MSGs. In Section 2.2[link], we define equivalence relationships between MSGs. In Section 2.3[link], we mention BNS symbols and their settings, which specify representatives of MSGs, and we use them to standardize given MSGs. Finally, in Section 2.4[link], we give examples of actions of magnetic symmetry operations for magnetic moments.

2.1. MSG and its construct type

We consider a time-reversal operation Mathematical equation and call an index-two group generated from Mathematical equation a time-reversal group Mathematical equation, where 1 represents an identity operation. Let Mathematical equation be a subgroup of a direct product of three-dimensional Euclidean group E(3) and Mathematical equation. An element Mathematical equation of Mathematical equation is called a magnetic symmetry operation, where we call W a matrix part, w a translation part and Mathematical equation a time-reversal part of the magnetic symmetry operation. In particular, Mathematical equation is called an antisymmetry operation. A translation subgroup of Mathematical equation is defined as

Mathematical equation

where E represents the identity matrix. The subgroup Mathematical equation is called a MSG when Mathematical equation is generated from three independent translations. We write a magnetic point group of Mathematical equation as

Mathematical equation

We consider two derived space groups from Mathematical equation. A family space group (FSG) of Mathematical equation is a space group obtained by ignoring time-reversal parts in magnetic symmetry operations:

Mathematical equation

A maximal space subgroup (XSG) of Mathematical equation is a space group obtained by removing antisymmetry operations:

Mathematical equation

The MSGs are classified into the following four construct types (Bradley & Cracknell, 2009[Bradley, C. & Cracknell, A. P. (2009). The Mathematical Theory of Symmetry in Solids. Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences. London: Oxford University Press.]; Campbell et al., 2022[Campbell, B. J., Stokes, H. T., Perez-Mato, J. M. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2022). Acta Cryst. A78, 99-106.]):

(Type I) Mathematical equation: the MSG Mathematical equation does not have antisymmetry operations.

(Type II) Mathematical equation: the MSG Mathematical equation has antisymmetry operations and corresponding ordinary symmetry operations.

(Type III) Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation is an index-two translationengleiche subgroup of Mathematical equation. [The notation Mathematical equation indicates a complement set, Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation.] Thus, translation subgroups of Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation are identical.

(Type IV) Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation is an index-two klassengleiche subgroup of Mathematical equation. Thus, point groups of Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation are identical.

For a type-III MSG example, Fig. 1[link](a) shows an antiferromagnetic (AFM) rutile structure whose MSG is Mathematical equation (BNS No. 136.498) in the BNS symbol. The FSG and XSG of Mathematical equation are P42/mnm (No. 136) and Pnnm (No. 58), respectively.

[Figure 1]
Figure 1
Examples of antiferromagnetic (AFM) crystal structures with (a) type-III and (b) type-IV MSGs. The red arrows represent collinear spins with the same magnitudes.

For a type-IV MSG example, Fig. 1[link](b) shows an AFM body-centered cubic (b.c.c.) structure whose MSG is Mathematical equation (BNS No. 221.97) in the BNS symbol. The FSG and XSG of Mathematical equation are Mathematical equation (No. 229) and Mathematical equation (No. 221), respectively.

2.2. Magnetic space-group type

We consider a transformation Mathematical equation between two coordinate systems specified with basis vectors Mathematical equation with origin Mathematical equation and basis vectors Mathematical equation with origin Mathematical equation. A transformation Mathematical equation with Mathematical equation is called orientation-preserving. We assume that a magnetic symmetry operation Mathematical equation is transformed into Mathematical equation by Mathematical equation as

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

We refer to the criteria to choose a representative of each space-group type as a setting. The standard ITA setting is one of the conventional descriptions for each space-group type used in the International Tables for Crystallography, Vol. A (Aroyo, 2016[Aroyo, M. I. (2016). Editor. International Tables for Crystallography, Vol. A, 6th ed. Chichester: Wiley.]): unique axis b setting, cell choice 1 for monoclinic groups, hexagonal axes for rhombohedral groups and origin choice 2 for centrosymmetric groups. Similarly to space groups, each equivalent class of MSGs up to orientation-preserving transformations is called a magnetic space-group type.

2.3. BNS setting

The BNS symbol represents each magnetic space-group type (Belov et al., 1957[Belov, N. V., Neronova, N. N. & Smirnova, T. S. (1957). Sov. Phys. Crystallogr. 2, 311-322.]). We refer to a setting of the BNS symbol as a BNS setting: for types-I, -II and -III MSGs, it uses the same setting as the standard ITA setting of the FSG. For a type-IV MSG, it uses that of the XSG. In Section 4[link], we consider standardizing a given magnetic crystal structure by applying a transformation to an MSG in the BNS setting.

2.4. Action of magnetic symmetry operations

In general, we can arbitrarily choose how magnetic symmetry operations act on objects as long as they satisfy the definition of actions. For a magnetic moment m, a symmetry operation Mathematical equation acts on m as an axial vector, and the time-reversal operation Mathematical equation reverses the sign of m. When we choose the Cartesian coordinates for m, the matrix part of Mathematical equation is expressed as Mathematical equation in Cartesian coordinates with basis vectors Mathematical equation. Therefore, the magnetic symmetry operations act on m as

Mathematical equation

3. Magnetic symmetry operation search

We provide a procedure to search for magnetic symmetry operations from a given magnetic crystal structure represented by basis vectors, point coordinates, atomic types and magnetic moments within a unit cell. Formally, our input for the magnetic symmetry operation search is the following four objects: (1) basis vectors of its lattice Mathematical equation, (2) an array of point coordinates of sites in its unit cell Mathematical equation, (3) an array of atomic types of sites in its unit cell Mathematical equation, and (4) an array of magnetic moments of sites in its unit cell Mathematical equation, where N is the number of sites in the unit cell.

We search for a magnetic symmetry operation Mathematical equation that preserves the magnetic crystal structure Mathematical equation. Therefore, the symmetry operation g should map point coordinates Mathematical equation into Mathematical equation up to translations, where Mathematical equation is a permutation of N sites induced by g. Also, Mathematical equation should equate a magnetic moment Mathematical equation with a mapped one Mathematical equation. Such a magnetic symmetry operation forms an MSG of the magnetic crystal structure as a stabilizer of Mathematical equation,

Mathematical equation

where Mathematical equation is a symmetric group of degree N. [We recall that the condition of Mathematical equation in equation (8[link]) can be read as there exists a permutation Mathematical equation such that point coordinates, atomic types and magnetic moments are preserved for every site i.]

Because the domain of the symmetry operation g in equation (8[link]) is not restricted, we cannot search thoroughly for g at this point. To narrow down the candidates for g, we consider a crystal structure Mathematical equation obtained by ignoring the magnetic moments of Mathematical equation. A space group of Mathematical equation is written as a stabilizer of Mathematical equation that preserves Mathematical equation:

Mathematical equation

As shown in Fig. 2[link], Mathematical equation may not be a subgroup of Mathematical equation in general because the former ignores magnetic moments. Because time-reversal operations do not change point coordinates and atomic types, we can restrict the domain of symmetry operations g to Mathematical equation,

Mathematical equation

The symmetry operations for Mathematical equation can be obtained from existing crystal symmetry search algorithms such as those of Stokes & Hatch (2005[Stokes, H. T. & Hatch, D. M. (2005). J. Appl. Cryst. 38, 237-238.]), Togo & Tanaka (2018[Togo, A. & Tanaka, I. (2018). Spglib: a Software Library for Crystal Symmetry Search. https://github.com/spglib/spglib.]) and Hicks et al. (2018[Hicks, D., Oses, C., Gossett, E., Gomez, G., Taylor, R. H., Toher, C., Mehl, M. J., Levy, O. & Curtarolo, S. (2018). Acta Cryst. A74, 184-203.]).

[Figure 2]
Figure 2
Group–subgroup relationship of MSGs and related space groups. The nodes represent space groups or MSGs. Each edge indicates that a lower group is a subgroup of an upper group in the diagram. Although it is not exploited in this study, the XSG Mathematical equation is a subgroup of the FSG Mathematical equation because the latter simply ignores time-reversal parts of Mathematical equation.

Based on the formulation of the MSG in equation (10[link]), we can search for magnetic symmetry operations using the following procedure:

(i) We compute Mathematical equation by the existing crystal symmetry search algorithms.

(ii) If all magnetic moments are zero, both g1 and Mathematical equation belong to Mathematical equation for all Mathematical equation and we skip the remaining steps (in this case, the MSG is type II). Otherwise, we choose a site Mathematical equation with a non-zero magnetic moment Mathematical equation.

(iii) For each symmetry operation Mathematical equation, we search for the time-reversal part as follows:

(a) We compute a permutation Mathematical equation and solve

Mathematical equation

for Mathematical equation. We denote the solution of equation (11[link]) as Mathematical equation if it exists. If the solution does not exist, we skip the symmetry operation g.

(b) We check if the condition Mathematical equation holds for other sites. If the condition holds for all sites, Mathematical equation belongs to Mathematical equation.

Note that the comparison of point coordinates and magnetic moments should be performed within tolerances in practice (Grosse-Kunstleve et al., 2004[Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W., Sauter, N. K. & Adams, P. D. (2004). Acta Cryst. A60, 1-6.]). We use an absolute tolerance parameter ε for point coordinates (Togo & Tanaka, 2018[Togo, A. & Tanaka, I. (2018). Spglib: a Software Library for Crystal Symmetry Search. https://github.com/spglib/spglib.]) and another absolute tolerance Mathematical equation for magnetic moments. Then, the comparisons in this section are replaced with the following inequalities:

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Here, Mathematical equation takes a remainder with modulo one in the range Mathematical equation.

4. Identification of magnetic space-group type and transformation to BNS setting

For the detected MSG Mathematical equation in the previous section, we provide an algorithm to identify its magnetic space-group type and search for a transformation from Mathematical equation to a magnetic space-group representative Mathematical equation in the BNS setting. The algorithms presented in this section are applied to a list of magnetic symmetry operations in the matrix form either obtained through the magnetic symmetry operation search in Section 3[link] or provided from outside the software package as predetermined operations.

For all the 1651 magnetic space-group types, a magnetic space-group representative Mathematical equation in the BNS setting has already been tabulated (González-Platas et al., 2021[González-Platas, J., Katcho, N. A. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2021). J. Appl. Cryst. 54, 338-342.]; Campbell et al., 2022[Campbell, B. J., Stokes, H. T., Perez-Mato, J. M. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2022). Acta Cryst. A78, 99-106.]). Thus, we search for Mathematical equation with the same magnetic space-group type as Mathematical equation and an orientation-preserving transformation Mathematical equation while satisfying

Mathematical equation

In Section 4.1[link], we identify a construct type of Mathematical equation to choose a candidate Mathematical equation, which is one of the magnetic space-group representatives in the BNS setting. In Section 4.2[link], we try to obtain Mathematical equation from affine normalizers of Mathematical equation or Mathematical equation.

4.1. Identification of construct type of MSG

The construct type of Mathematical equation can be determined from orders of the magnetic point group and point groups of FSG and XSG. We write a point group of space group Mathematical equation as

Mathematical equation

When Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation is type I or II. Then, when Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation is type I. When Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation is type II.

When Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation is type III or IV. For a type-III or type-IV MSG, we consider a coset decomposition of Mathematical equation by Mathematical equation:

Mathematical equation

If the coset representative Mathematical equation can be taken as an anti-translation, Mathematical equation is a klassengleiche subgroup of Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation is type IV. If not, Mathematical equation is a translationengleiche subgroup of Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation is type III.

4.2. Transformation of MSG to BNS setting

For each magnetic space-group representative Mathematical equation with the same construct type as Mathematical equation, we consider searching for Mathematical equation from two consecutive transformations Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation with

Mathematical equation

as described below. If such a transformation Mathematical equation is found, Mathematical equation belongs to the same magnetic space-group type as Mathematical equation.

We rewrite equation (14[link]) to an equivalent one in terms of derived space groups because we would like to use an existing transformation search algorithm to obtain a transformation between space groups with the same space-group type proposed by Grosse-Kunstleve (1999[Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W. (1999). Acta Cryst. A55, 383-395. ]). As shown in Appendix A[link], the condition of equation (14[link]) is equivalent to satisfying the following two conditions:

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Note that a transformation satisfying equation (18a[link]) does not necessarily satisfy equation (18b[link]) in general, and vice versa.

The present algorithm, based on the new conditions, is outlined as follows. First, we obtain a temporal transformation Mathematical equation to match FSGs or XSGs of Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation by the existing transformation search algorithm. Then, we search for a correction transformation Mathematical equation to match FSGs and XSGs simultaneously.

We divide the transformation search into cases by the construct type of Mathematical equation in more detail.

4.2.1. When Mathematical equation is type I or II

When Mathematical equation is type I or II, Mathematical equation with the same construct type as Mathematical equation uses the standard ITA setting of Mathematical equation. Thus, we need to obtain an orientation-preserving transformation Mathematical equation such that Mathematical equation. The temporal transformation Mathematical equation can be obtained by the existing transformation search algorithm. We write an MSG transformed by Mathematical equation as

Mathematical equation

By construction, Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation are identical as sets, Mathematical equation.

In this case, the XSGs are also identical to one another, Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation. Thus, we do not need to search for a correction transformation because Mathematical equation also satisfies Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation.

4.2.2. When Mathematical equation is type III

When Mathematical equation is type III, Mathematical equation with type III uses the standard ITA setting of Mathematical equation. Thus, we need to obtain an orientation-preserving transformation Mathematical equation such that Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation. Then, the FSG of the transformed MSG in equation (19[link]), Mathematical equation, is the space-group representative in the standard ITA setting.

A correction transformation Mathematical equation should satisfy the following conditions to simultaneously satisfy equations (18a[link]) and (18b[link]),

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

The condition of equation (20a[link]) indicates that Mathematical equation belongs to an affine normalizer of Mathematical equation (Koch et al., 2016[Koch, E., Fischer, W. & Müller, U. (2016). International Tables for Crystallography, edited by M. I. Aroyo, Vol. A, ch. 3.5, 6th ed., pp. 826-851. Chichester: Wiley.]). The situation is shown in Fig. 3[link](a), where we write the affine normalizer of a space group Mathematical equation as

Mathematical equation

and the three-dimensional affine group as Mathematical equation. If a correction transformation Mathematical equation satisfies equation (20b[link]), the combined transformation in equation (17[link]) transforms Mathematical equation to Mathematical equation.

[Figure 3]
Figure 3
Group–subgroup relationship of conjugated MSGs and affine normalizers.

Finally, we describe how to prepare transformations in the affine normalizer Mathematical equation in practice. Because Mathematical equation is a normal subgroup of Mathematical equation, an operation in Mathematical equation does not give another conjugated subgroup of Mathematical equation. Also, although the affine normalizer may have continuous translations, the continuous translations do not give another conjugated subgroup of Mathematical equation. Thus, it is sufficient to consider coset representatives of Mathematical equation other than continuous translations. We divide the affine normalizer computation into cases according to whether the number of coset representatives other than continuous translations is finite or not.

When Mathematical equation is triclinic or monoclinic, the number of coset representatives other than continuous translations is infinite and we cannot check transformations thoroughly. However, there are no such conjugate space groups with Mathematical equation because Mathematical equation does not have a pair of proper conjugate subgroups in its affine normalizer. Therefore, we do not need to compute the affine normalizer in this case.

When Mathematical equation belongs to other crystal systems, the number of coset representatives other than continuous translations is finite. To simplify the present algorithm and implementation, instead of using a list of affine normalizers as given by Koch et al. (2016[Koch, E., Fischer, W. & Müller, U. (2016). International Tables for Crystallography, edited by M. I. Aroyo, Vol. A, ch. 3.5, 6th ed., pp. 826-851. Chichester: Wiley.]), we enumerate matrix parts and origin shifts of orientation-preserving transformations in the coset representatives other than continuous translations as follows. For matrix parts, we enumerate integer matrices Mathematical equation whose elements are −1, 0 or 1, and their determinants are equal to one. For origin shifts, we enumerate vectors Mathematical equation by restricting their vector components to one of Mathematical equation. These will be sufficient because they cover all orientation-preserving coset representatives of Mathematical equation Mathematical equation up to translations (Koch et al., 2016[Koch, E., Fischer, W. & Müller, U. (2016). International Tables for Crystallography, edited by M. I. Aroyo, Vol. A, ch. 3.5, 6th ed., pp. 826-851. Chichester: Wiley.]). Since Mathematical equation can be tabulated for each space-group representative in the standard ITA setting, we can precompute them before performing the transformation search in practice.

4.2.3. When Mathematical equation is type IV

When Mathematical equation is type IV, Mathematical equation with type IV uses the standard ITA setting of Mathematical equation. Thus, we need to obtain an orientation-preserving transformation Mathematical equation such that Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation. Then, the XSG of the transformed MSG in equation (19[link]), Mathematical equation, is the space-group representative in the standard ITA setting.

Similarly to type-III MSGs, we need to search for an orientation-preserving transformation Mathematical equation Mathematical equation such that

Mathematical equation

The situation is shown in Fig. 3[link](b). [The FSG Mathematical equation is a subgroup of Mathematical equation: because Mathematical equation is a normal subgroup of Mathematical equation, every operation in Mathematical equation stabilizes Mathematical equation and belongs to Mathematical equation. Similarly, Mathematical equation is a subgroup of Mathematical equation.]

When Mathematical equation is neither triclinic nor monoclinic, the brute-force tabulation in Section 4.2.2[link] also works for Mathematical equation. For triclinic and monoclinic cases, a factor group Mathematical equation is not finite, and we cannot prove the completeness in the same manner. Thus, we show that the enumerated Mathematical equation covers all conjugated type-IV MSGs by explicitly listing Mathematical equation and the conjugated MSGs in Appendix B[link].

4.2.4. Examples of conjugated MSGs

We present examples of conjugated MSGs for type III and type IV. For a type-III MSG example, consider coset representatives of Mathematical equation for Mathematical equation in the BNS setting (BNS No. 17.10) as follows:

Mathematical equation

There is another MSG Mathematical equation with the same magnetic space-group type as Mathematical equation and identical FSG to Mathematical equation:

Mathematical equation

Although Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation belong to the same space-group type (No. 3), these XSGs are different. The following transformation maps Mathematical equation to Mathematical equation while satisfying equation (20b[link]):

Mathematical equation

For a type-IV MSG example, consider coset representatives of Mathematical equation for Ccc in the BNS setting (BNS No. 9.40) as follows:

Mathematical equation

There is another MSG Mathematical equation with the same magnetic space-group type as Mathematical equation and identical XSG to Mathematical equation:

Mathematical equation

Although Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation belong to the same space-group type (No. 8), these FSGs are different. The following transformation maps Mathematical equation to Mathematical equation while satisfying equation (22[link]):

Mathematical equation

5. Symmetrization of magnetic crystal structure

We symmetrize the magnetic crystal structure Mathematical equation by magnetic symmetry operations of the determined MSG Mathematical equation. For convenience, we consider its coset decomposition with a finite index as follows. Let Mathematical equation be a translation group formed by basis vectors Mathematical equation, which may not be primitive basis vectors. We write a coset decomposition of Mathematical equation by Mathematical equation as

Mathematical equation

We write the set of coset representatives as

Mathematical equation

A centering operation Mathematical equation, where Mathematical equation, may belong to Mathematical equation.

A procedure to symmetrize the array of point coordinates Mathematical equation by Mathematical equation is essentially the same as those used by Grosse-Kunstleve & Adams (2002[Grosse-Kunstleve, R. W. & Adams, P. D. (2002). Acta Cryst. A58, 60-65.]) and Togo & Tanaka (2018[Togo, A. & Tanaka, I. (2018). Spglib: a Software Library for Crystal Symmetry Search. https://github.com/spglib/spglib.]). For the κth magnetic symmetry operation Mathematical equation, we denote that its inverse maps the Mathematical equationth point coordinates to the ith point coordinates. Then, Mathematical equation should be close to Mathematical equation up to lattice translations in Mathematical equation. With this observation, each of the point coordinates Mathematical equation can be symmetrized to Mathematical equation by a projection operator:

Mathematical equation

The modulo is required because the original and mapped point coordinates in the unit cell may be displaced by lattice translations.

A procedure to symmetrize the array of magnetic moments Mathematical equation is similar to that to symmetrize the array of point coordinates. Each magnetic moment Mathematical equation can be symmetrized to Mathematical equation by the following projection operator:

Mathematical equation

6. Conclusion

We have presented the algorithms for determining magnetic symmetry operations for a given magnetic crystal structure, identifying a magnetic space-group type for a given MSG, searching for a transformation to the BNS setting, and symmetrizing the magnetic crystal structure on the basis of the determined MSG. Matrix and translation parts of magnetic symmetry operations are determined from the crystal structure by ignoring magnetic moments. A transformation between the determined MSG and a BNS-setting MSG is obtained by considering affine normalizers: that of the FSG for type-III MSGs and that of the XSG for type-IV MSGs. In particular, we provide exhaustive tables of conjugated MSGs with triclinic or monoclinic type-IV MSGs in the BNS setting and corresponding transformations. Projection operators of the determined MSG symmetrize point coordinates and magnetic moments of the magnetic crystal structure. These algorithms are designed comprehensively and implemented in spglib under the BSD 3-clause license. The present algorithms and their implementations are expected to contribute to computational crystallography and materials science, including high-throughput first-principles calculations and crystal structure predictions.

APPENDIX A

The condition that two MSGs are identical

For two MSGs Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation, we write the FSG and XSG of Mathematical equation as Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation, respectively. When Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation have the same construct types, they are identical if and only if their FSGs and XSGs are also identical, that is, Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation. Although it is trivial, we give proof of this fact for completeness.

When Mathematical equation and Mathematical equation are identical, their FSGs and XSGs are also identical by definition. We check the converse for each construct type. For type-I MSGs, Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation. For type-II MSGs, Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation. For type-III or type-IV MSGs, Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation = Mathematical equation. Thus, if FSGs and XSGs are identical, the two MSGs are also identical.

APPENDIX B

Correction transformations for triclinic or monoclinic type-IV MSGs

We give all anti-translations in conjugated MSGs and corresponding transformations Mathematical equation for a type-IV MSG Mathematical equation in the BNS setting, where Mathematical equation is triclinic or monoclinic. Because an anti-translation Mathematical equation in a type-IV MSG is index-two up to translations, it is sufficient to consider the following seven anti-translations:

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

Mathematical equation

When Mathematical equation is a triclinic or monoclinic P-centering space group (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14), Tables 1, 2 and 4 show transformations for Mathematical equation, which are obtained by the brute force described in Section 4.2.2[link], and anti-translations in the transformed MSGs. Because each table contains the seven anti-translations, we confirm that these transformations are sufficient to search for conjugated type-IV MSGs.

For other cases, Mathematical equation is a monoclinic C-centering space group (Nos. 5, 8, 9, 12 and 15). Tables 3, 5 and 6[link][link][link][link][link][link] show transformations for Mathematical equation and anti-translations in the transformed MSGs. Note that the anti-translation Mathematical equation should not be contained in the conjugated MSGs because Mathematical equation is not type II and Mathematical equation is C-centering. Then, each table contains the six anti-translations other than Mathematical equation. Thus, we also confirm that these transformations are sufficient.

Table 1
Transformations between type-IV MSG Mathematical equation and conjugated MSGs, where their XSGs are identical to space groups with type Nos. 1 and 2 in the ITA standard setting

BNS No. Transformation Mathematical equation Anti-translations in Mathematical equation
1.3, 2.7 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation

Table 2
Transformations between type-IV MSG Mathematical equation and conjugated MSGs, where their XSGs are identical to space groups with type Nos. 3, 4, 6, 10 and 11 in the ITA standard setting

BNS No. Transformation Mathematical equation Anti-translations in Mathematical equation
3.4, 4.10, 6.21, 10.47, 11.55 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
3.5, 4.11, 6.22, 10.48, 11.56 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
3.6, 4.12, 6.23, 10.49, 11.57 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation

Table 3
Transformations between type-IV MSG Mathematical equation and conjugated MSGs, where their XSGs are identical to space groups with type Nos. 5, 8 and 12 in the ITA standard setting

BNS No. Transformation Mathematical equation Anti-translations in Mathematical equation
5.16, 8.35, 12.63 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation
5.17, 8.36, 12.64 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation

Table 4
Transformations between type-IV MSG Mathematical equation and conjugated MSGs, where their XSGs are identical to space groups with type Nos. 7, 13 and 14 in the ITA standard setting

Note that BNS Nos. 7.30 and 7.31 are not listed in ascending order.

BNS No. Transformation Mathematical equation Anti-translations in Mathematical equation
7.27, 13.70, 14.80 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
7.28, 13.71, 14.81 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
7.29, 13.72, 14.82 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
7.31, 13.73, 14.83 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
7.30, 13.74, 14.84 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation

Table 5
Transformations between type-IV MSG Mathematical equation and conjugated MSGs, where their XSGs are identical to a space group with type No. 9 in the ITA standard setting

BNS No. Transformation Mathematical equation Anti-translations in Mathematical equation
9.40 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation
9.41 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation

Table 6
Transformations between type-IV MSG Mathematical equation and conjugated MSGs, where their XSGs are identical to a space group with type No. 15 in the ITA standard setting

BNS No. Transformation Mathematical equation Anti-translations in Mathematical equation
15.90 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation
Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation
15.91 Mathematical equation Mathematical equation, Mathematical equation

Acknowledgements

We thank Juan Rodríguez-Carvajal for providing magnetic space-group data sets tabulated by González-Platas et al. (2021[González-Platas, J., Katcho, N. A. & Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (2021). J. Appl. Cryst. 54, 338-342.]).

Funding information

The following funding is acknowledged: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grant No. 21J10712 to Kohei Shinohara).

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