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CRC Press eBooks

Quasi-isotropic approximation in quantum mechanics

A.A. Fuki, Yu. A. Kravtsov, O. N. Naǐda, S.D. Danilov

Published Jul 16, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This chapter discusses the quasi-isotropic approximation (QIA) with the semiclassical asymptotics of the Pauli equations for spin 1/2 particles in a magnetic field. The case of spin 1/2 and the Pauli equation are taken to avoid complex manipulations and demonstrate the essence of novel features brought in by the QIA to this well-studied problem. The role of quantum constraints ensuring the description of the Stern-Gerlach splitting is played by the special initial conditions. The latter would imply that particle world lines are dependent on the states of particle spin. This is exactly what occurs in the Stern-Gerlach effect. However de Broglie was unable to find the expression for that additional term. Precession of the magnetic moment in this mode comes about due to interference mainly arising from the difference in eikonals corresponding to these modes. The solutions admit all the best known solutions as particular cases, in particular, the Stern-Gerlach particle trajectories and solutions of the Pauli-Galanin-Rubinow-Keller type.

DOI
10.1201/9780203753415-7

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This chapter discusses the quasi-isotropic approximation (QIA) with the semiclassical asymptotics of the Pauli equations for spin 1/2 particles in a magnetic field. The case of spin 1/2 and the Pauli equation are taken to avoid complex manipulations and demonstrate the essence of novel features brought in by the QIA to this well-studied problem. The role of quantum constraints ensuring the description of the Stern-Gerlach splitting is played by the special initial conditions. The latter would imply that particle world lines are dependent on the states of particle spin. This is exactly what occurs in the Stern-Gerlach effect. However de Broglie was unable to find the expression for that additional term. Precession of the magnetic moment in this mode comes about due to interference mainly arising from the difference in eikonals corresponding to these modes. The solutions admit all the best known solutions as particular cases, in particular, the Stern-Gerlach particle trajectories and solutions of the Pauli-Galanin-Rubinow-Keller type.
The motion of neutral particles with magnetic moments in an inhomogeneous magnetic field is described in a semiclassical framework. The concept of coherent internal states is used in the formulation of the semiclassical approximation from the full quantum-mechanical expression. The classical trajectories are defined only for certain spin states, that satisfy the conditions for being coherent internal states. The reliability of Stern-Gerlach experiments to measure spin projections is assessed in this framework.
The motion of neutral particles with magnetic moments in an inhomogeneous magnetic field is described in a quantum mechanical framework. The validity of the semiclassical approximations which are generally used to describe these phenomena is discussed. Approximate expressions for the evolution operator are derived and compared to the exact calculations. Focusing and spin-flip phenomena are predicted. The reliability of Stern-Gerlach experiments to measure spin projections is assessed in this framework.
A detailed analysis of the classic Stern–Gerlach experiment is presented. An analytical simple solution is presented for the quantum description of the translational and spin dynamics of a silver atom in a magnetic field with a gradient along a single z-direction. This description is then used to obtain an approximate quantum description of the more realistic case with a magnetic field gradient also in a second y-direction. An explicit relation is derived for how an initial off center deviation in the y-direction affects the final result observed at the detector. This shows that the “mouth shape” pattern at the detector observed in the original Stern–Gerlach experiment is a generic consequence of the gradient in the y-direction. This is followed by a discussion of the spin dynamics during the entry of the silver atom into the magnet. An analytical relation is derived for a simplified case of a field only along the z-direction. A central question for the conceptual understanding of the Stern–Gerlach experiment has been how an initially unpolarized spin ends up in a polarized state at the detector. It is argued that this can be understood with the use of the adiabatic approximation. When the atoms first experience the magnetic field outside the magnet, there is in general a change in the spin state, which transforms from a degenerate eigenstate in the absence of a field into one of two possible non-degenerate states in the field. If the direction of the field changes during the passage through the device, there is a corresponding adiabatic change of the spin state. It is shown that an application of the adiabatic approximation in this way is consistent with the previously derived exact relations.
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 .
The Stern-Gerlach experiment is the fundamental experiment in order to exhibit the quantization of spin and understand the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. However, although the Stern-Gerlach experiment plays an essential role in the teaching of quantum mechanics, no complete analysis of this experiment using Pauli spinors is presented in the pedagogical literature. This paper presents such an analysis and develops implications for the theory of quantum measurement. We first propose an analytic expression of both the wave function and the probability density in the Stern-Gerlach experiment. Our explicit solution is obtained via a complete integration of the Pauli equation over time and space. The probability density evolution describes a slipping of the wave packet into two separate packets due to the measurement device, but it cannot account for impacts. We therefore calculate the de Broglie-Bohm trajectories, which not only explain impacts naturally, but also accounts for the spin quantization following the magnetic field gradient. It is then possible to propose a clear explanation of measurement effects in the Stern-Gerlach experiment.