Angular momentum, Part I (Constant L^)

Масуд Чайчиан, Rolf Hagedorn

This chapter shows that the three operators are Hermitian and (in a rotationally invariant system) commute with the Hamiltonian; therefore they are observable constants of the motion. It finds out what their physical significance is. By knowing from classical mechanics, the constant of the motion arising from rotational invariance is the angular momentum. The angular momentum may split up into two parts: orbital and intrinsic. The orbital part can always be described by the dependence of a wave function, whereas the intrinsic part is by definition contained in the transformation property of the wave function. In the case of a single component (scalar), no intrinsic angular momentum exists. There are—apart from the vector addition and the scalar product—two other ways of combining two vectors: the direct sum and the direct product. Both occur in the theory of angular momentum, in fact whenever symmetry is involved.

Owen L. de Lange

The factorization of four vector operators, D±(ω) and D±(−ω), which occur in a representation-independent, spectrum-generating algebra for the three-dimensional, isotropic harmonic oscillator in an angular momentum basis, is considered (ω is the angular frequency of the oscillator). The D±(ω) are quantum-mechanical analogs of the classical vectors (1∓iL̂×)Fc (ω), where Fc(ω)=−Mωr×L+pL is constant in a frame rotating with angular velocity ωL̂. It is shown that these four vector operators can be factorized in two different ways to yield operators that, apart from their dependence on a constant of the motion (L2), are linear in either p or r. In this way 20 abstract operators are obtained. The properties of these operators are discussed: (i) Twelve are ladder operators for the quantum numbers l, and l and m, in the eigenkets ‖lm〉 of L2 and Lz. In linearized, differential form six of these operators are ladder operators for the spherical harmonics in the coordinate representation, while the other six are the corresponding operators in the momentum representation. (ii) The remaining eight operators factorize linear combinations of the Hamiltonian and the dimension operator. In linearized, differential form four of these operators are ladder operators for energy and angular momentum in the radial part of the coordinate-space wave functions, while the other four are the corresponding operators in the momentum representation.

Philip L. Bowers

S. J. van Enk, Gerard Nienhuis

We investigate the separation of the total angular momentum J of the electromagnetic field into a ‘spin’ part S and an ‘orbital’ part L. We show that both ‘spin’ and ‘orbital’ angular momentum are observables. However, the transversality of the radiation field affects the commutation relations for the associated quantum operators. This implies that neither S nor L are angular momentum operators. Moreover their eigenvalues are not discrete. We construct field modes such that each mode excitation (photon) is in a simultaneous eigenstate of S z and L z. We consider the interaction of such a photon with an atom and the resulting effect on the internal and external part of the atomic angular momentum.