The Pauli spin matrices have many useful properties. The spin of a particle is a degree of freedom additional to the spatial degrees of freedom. It is independent of the spatial degrees of freedom in the sense that one can simultaneously specify the spin state and the spatial state of a particle. Non-relativistically one must use more indirect methods of observing the spin. Classically, a spinning distribution of charge will have a magnetic moment; quantum mechanical spinning particles also have magnetic moments associated with their spins, and one tries to observe these magnetic moments in experiments. Spins in magnetic fields have very interesting dynamical properties. The right side is just the torque exerted by a magnetic field on a magnetic moment. This equation says in operator language that the rate of change of the spin angular momentum is the applied torque.
The Pauli spin matrices have many useful properties. The spin of a particle is a degree of freedom additional to the spatial degrees of freedom. It is independent of the spatial degrees of freedom in the sense that one can simultaneously specify the spin state and the spatial state of a particle. Non-relativistically one must use more indirect methods of observing the spin. Classically, a spinning distribution of charge will have a magnetic moment; quantum mechanical spinning particles also have magnetic moments associated with their spins, and one tries to observe these magnetic moments in experiments. Spins in magnetic fields have very interesting dynamical properties. The right side is just the torque exerted by a magnetic field on a magnetic moment. This equation says in operator language that the rate of change of the spin angular momentum is the applied torque.
First, the experimental foundations for the existence of a new dynamical variable, the spin of particles, are presented. The Pauli equation is then derived in detail, two applications are given and the energy levels of a particle with spin in a constant magnetic field are studied. This is the analysis of Landau levels, which can be performed by using the known results on the spectrum of harmonic oscillators. In this chapter we also study in detail the addition of orbital angular momentum and spin, as well as the spin–orbit interaction with the resulting Thomas precession. Stern-Gerlach experiment and electron spin The hypothesis that the electron has an intrinsic magnetic moment and an angular momentum, in short a spin , was first suggested in Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit (1926). They noticed, even before the discovery of quantum mechanics, that a complete description of spectra was not possible unless a magnetic moment and a mechanical moment were ascribed to the electron, and hence the concept of an electron as a point charge was insufficient. First, let us therefore try to understand how a magnetic moment can be associated to an atomic system. For this purpose, consider for simplicity the Bohr model of an hydrogen atom, where the electron moves along a circular orbit and rotates with orbital angular momentum L .
Introduction The claim that it is impossible to construct a realistic physical model of quantum matter is often presented as definitively and finally proved in the case of systems with spin ½, or internal angular momentum of magnitude ħ/2, which exhibit a characteristic ‘nonclassical two-valuedness’. Nevertheless, the extension of the causal interpretation to embrace nonrelativistic spin ½ systems was successfully carried through in the 1950s (Bohm, Schiller & Tiomno, 1955; Bohm & Schiller, 1955; Takabayasi, 1955; Takabayasi & Vigier, 1957) and developed more recently (Dewdney, Holland & Kyprianidis, 1986, 1987a, b; Dewdney, Holland, Kyprianidis & Vigier, 1988). The idea is to assume that the spinor wave represents a new type of physical field propagating in spacetime that exerts an influence on a corpuscle moving within it. The additional information conveyed by the spinor beyond that contained in the spinless Schrödinger wave implies that the state of the particle is not exhausted by specifying its position and momentum, but that it is endowed with further properties such as an internal angular momentum. The equation governing the dynamics of the spinor wavefunction is the Pauli equation: where the Hamiltonian operator is given by Here e, m and μ are respectively the charge, mass and magnetic moment of the particle, A 0 and A are the electromagnetic potentials, B = ∇ × A is the magnetic field, V is any other external scalar potential, and σ is a vector whose components are the 2 × 2 Pauli matrices. The Hamiltonian (9.1.2) istherefore a 2 × 2 matrix operator and the wavefunction ψ( x , t ) has two complex components.
This chapter introduces a new physical property called spin. The distinguishing factor between a fermion and a boson is the respective spin of the particles. Being a charged particle, the electron’s spin gives it a tiny magnetic field, which interacts with the SG field, causing the electrons to be deflected. However, this classical picture has significant limitations, as we will come to appreciate. Fundamentally, spin is a quantum mechanical physical property with no exact classical equivalent. Angular momentum plays a very similar role in the classical mechanics of rotating objects. It is also a conserved quantity, and its rate of change per second is a measure of the turning force applied. If the angular momentum has direction, then it must have components as with any other directed quantity.
The classical equations of motion of a charged point-particle with intrinsic spin under the influence of an external electromagnetic field are restated and compared with the Heisenberg equations of motion derived from the Dirac theory. The partition of angular momentum between particle and field in the classical theory is contrasted to the Dirac theory of electron spin. The analogy between the Dirac equation and the theory of parametric amplification is pointed out.A free spinning point particle moving according to the laws of classical relativistic point-particle mechanics may move along a helix. The sum of the intrinsic spin $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ and the angular momentum of the helical motion in this classical analog of zitterbewegung is an effective spin vector S which is a constant of the motion. Because of this internal motion, the effective mass M of the particle differs from the mass m which is ascribed to it in the equations of motion. Solutions are found in which S is parallel or antiparallel to the momentum, and the sign of M is determined by the helicity. When placed in a uniform electromagnetic field, the particle behaves as if it had a rest mass M and a magnetic moment $\frac{e\ensuremath{\sigma}}{\mathrm{Mc}}$, in addition to any explicit magnetic moment that may be ascribed to it.
Spinor wave functions; classical Lagrangian and Hamiltonian of a charged particle in an electromagnetic field, and its quantum Hamiltonian; gauge invariance; spin magnetic moment in a uniform magnetic field; magnetic resonance; the Stern--Gerlach experiment; neutron interferometry and rotations of spinor wave functions; treatment of a particle in a uniform magnetic field with and without the inclusion of spin degrees of freedom; Ahronov--Bohm effect for a charged spinless particle confined in a cylindrical shell.
In this chapter we shall treat two of the most important observables of quantum mechanical systems: angular momentum and spin. We shall argue that angular momentum is the generator of rotations. In quantummechanics, angular momentum is quantized in units of the reduced Planck constant. The quantization of angular momentum is dealt with by finding the angular momentum eigenvalues and eigenstates. We shall then apply the theory of angular momentum to study the hydrogen atom. Spin is an intrinsic angular momentum of subatomic particles and therefore corresponds to an important intrinsic degree of freedom. We shall discuss briefly how spin was discovered and many of its important properties. Finally, we shall also explore here some further subtleties of quantum theory.a When we consider quantum systems in two or three spatial dimensions, we need to take into account also the effect of rotations. In this case, we need to introduce a physical quantity called the angular momentum, that is, themomentum induced by or connected with rotations. In classical physics the angular momentum of a particle about a given origin is defined by [see Fig. 8.1]