Application of the maximum relative entropy method to the physics of ferromagnetic materials

•Probability distribution functions are approximated via maximum relative entropy methods.•Numerical estimates of effective energy levels of atoms in defective ferromagnetic materials are presented.•A maximum relative entropy method characterization of defective ferromagnetic materials is proposed.

It is known that the Maximum relative Entropy (MrE) method can be used to both update and approximate probability distributions functions in statistical inference problems. In this manuscript, we apply the MrE method to infer magnetic properties of ferromagnetic materials. In addition to comparing our approach to more traditional methodologies based upon the Ising model and Mean Field Theory, we also test the effectiveness of the MrE method on conventionally unexplored ferromagnetic materials with defects.