Magnetization relaxation and search for the magnetic gap in bulk-insulating V-doped (Bi, Sb)₂Te₃

V-doped (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ has a ten times higher magnetic coercivity than its Cr-doped counterpart and, therefore, is believed to be advantageous for the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE). The QAHE requires the opening of a magnetic bandgap at the Dirac point. We do not find this gap by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy down to 1 K. By x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), we directly probe the magnetism at the V site and derive spin and orbital magnetic moments of 1.69 and -0.22 atom. Hysteresis curves of the XMCD signal show a strong dependence of the coercivity on the ramping velocity of the magnetic field. The XMCD signal decays on a timescale of minutes, which we conclude contributes to the absence of a detectable magnetic gap at the Dirac point.