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arXiv:1008.3074

Quasiclassical and Quantum Systems of Angular Momentum. Part III. Group Algebra of ${\rm SU}(2)$, Quantum Angular Momentum and Quasiclassical Asymptotics

Jan Jerzy Sławianowski, Vasyl Kovalchuk, Agnieszka Martens, Barbara Gołubowska, Ewa Eliza Rożko

Published Aug 18, 2010• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

This is the third part of our series "Quasiclassical and Quantum Systems of Angular Momentum". In two previous parts we have discussed the methods of group algebras in formulation of quantum mechanics and certain quasiclassical problems. Below we specify to the special case of the group ${\rm SU}(2)$ and its quotient ${\rm SO}(3,\mathbb{R})$, and discuss just our main subject in this series, i.e., angular momentum problems. To be more precise, this is the purely ${\rm SU}(2)$-treatment, so formally this might also apply to isospin. However. it is rather hard to imagine realistic quasiclassical isospin problems.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1008.3074

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Quasiclassical and Quantum Systems of Angular Momentum. Part III. Group Algebra of SU(2){\rm SU}(2)SU(2), Quantum Angular Momentum and Quasiclassical Asymptotics
This is the third part of our series "Quasiclassical and Quantum Systems of Angular Momentum". In two previous parts we have discussed the methods of group algebras in formulation of quantum mechanics and certain quasiclassical problems. Below we specify to the special case of the group SU(2){\rm SU}(2)SU(2) and its quotient SO(3,R){\rm SO}(3,\mathbb{R})SO(3,R), and discuss just our main subject in this series, i.e., angular momentum problems. To be more precise, this is the purely SU(2){\rm SU}(2)SU(2)-treatment, so formally this might also apply to isospin. However. it is rather hard to imagine realistic quasiclassical isospin problems.
We use the mathematical structure of group algebras and H+H^{+}H+-algebras for describing certain problems concerning the quantum dynamics of systems of angular momenta, including also the spin systems. The underlying groups are SU(2){\rm SU}(2)SU(2) and its quotient SO(3,R){\rm SO}(3,\mathbb{R})SO(3,R). The scheme developed is applied in two different contexts. Firstly, the purely group-algebraic framework is applied to the system of angular momenta of arbitrary origin, e.g., orbital angular momenta of electrons and nucleons, systems of quantized angular momenta of rotating extended objects like molecules. The other promising area of applications is Schrödinger quantum mechanics of rigid body with its often rather unexpected and very interesting features. Even within this Schrödinger framework the algebras of operators related to group algebras are a very useful tool. We investigate some problems of composed systems and the quasiclassical limit obtained as the asymptotics of "large" quantum numbers, i.e., "quickly oscillating" functions on groups. They are related in an interesting way to geometry of the coadjoint orbits of SU(2){\rm SU}(2)SU(2).
In Part I of this series we presented the general ideas of applying group-algebraic methods for describing quantum systems. The treatment was there very "ascetic" in that only the structure of a locally compact topological group was used. Below we explicitly make use of the Lie group structure. Basing on differential geometry enables one to introduce explicitly representation of important physical quantities and formulate the general ideas of quasiclassical representation and classical analogy.
The theory of angular momentum and spin in quantum mechanics seems to defy common-sense intuition.We render the theory intelligible again by pointing out that this apparent impenetrability merely stems from an {\em undue} parallel interpretation of the algebraic expressions for the angular-momentum and spin operators in the group representation theory of SO(3) and SU(2). E.g. the correct meaning of the quantumoperator L^z=ℏı (x∂∂y−y∂∂x){\hat{L}}_{z} = {\hbar\over{\imath}}\,(x{\partial\over{\partial y}} - y{\partial\over{\partial x}} )L^z​=ℏ​(x∂y∂​−y∂x∂​) is not that it is the operatorfor the zzz-component LzL_{z}Lz​ of the angular momentum L{\mathbf{L}}L, but rather the expression of the operator for the angular momentum L{\mathbf{L}}L when it is aligned with the zzz-axis. Hence what we are used to note (erroneously) as L^z{\hat{L}}_{z}L^z​ is not a scalar but a vector operator.The same applies{\em mutatis mutandis} for the spin operators. In the correct interpretation, the wholealgebraic formalism is just the group representation theory for the rotationsof three-dimensional Euclidean geometry. It is thus mere,elementary high-school mathematics (in a less usual, more technical guise) and as such totally exempt of any physics, let alone quantum mysteries.The change of interpretation has no impact on the algebraic results, such that they remain in agreement with experimental data and the algebra quantum mechanics remains correct. It is all only a matter of the correct geometrical meaning of the algebra.All these statements are proved within the framework of the group representation theory for SO(3) and SU(2) which is the basic tool used to describe rotational motion in quantum mechanics.
The method of self-adjoint ladder operators, developed in Parts I and II, is applied to the solution of the generalized angular-momentum problem. This reveals many interesting aspects of this approach to eigenvalue problems and, in particular, its relationship to addition of angular momentum. The complete set of irreducible unitary representations of the underlying algebra is obtained and also the corresponding Clebsch-Gordan (Wigner) coefficients for the addition of spin and angular momentum in a space of arbitrary dimension.