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CRC Press eBooks

Rules of Composition of Angular Momentum

Richard P. Feynman

Published Feb 19, 2018• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A spin 1/2 state is characterized by two amplitudes. In general a = a + (1/2) + a – (–1/2) where (1/2) stands for ( 1 0 ) , ( − 1 / 2 ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429492501/e6a0c676-1f8d-4684-97a0-6bf3353f7ce0/content/eq43.tif"/> for ( 0 1 ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429492501/e6a0c676-1f8d-4684-97a0-6bf3353f7ce0/content/eq44.tif"/> , and a for ( a + a − ) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429492501/e6a0c676-1f8d-4684-97a0-6bf3353f7ce0/content/eq45.tif"/> .

DOI
10.1201/9780429492501-4

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The orbital angular momentum operator has been introduced by Postulate 2 as a vector operator L → ^ = r → × p → ^ https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_1_B.tif"/> whose Cartesian components, Eq.(2.18) , correspond to those of the classical observable for a single particle. As a consequence of Postulate 4, the components L ^ x https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_2_B.tif"/> , L ^ y https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_3_B.tif"/> and L ^ z https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_4_B.tif"/> do not commute with one another, Eq.(4.47) , and all commute with L ^ 2 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_5_B.tif"/> , and this implies that the eigenstates of L → ^ https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_6_B.tif"/> are simultaneous eigenfunctions of L ^ 2 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_7_B.tif"/> and of one component L ^ i https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/inline-eqn8_8_B.tif"/> , at a time. Similar properties are exhibited by the angular momentum vector operator of a system of particles, which is defined as the vector sum over the individual particle operators: J → ^ = ∑ p L → ^ ( p ) , J ^ 2 = J ^ x 2 + J ^ y 2 + J ^ z 2 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/eqn8_108_B.tif"/> such that, because the coordinate and momentum operator for two different particles are commuting operators, we have: 8.1 [ J ^ x , J ^ y ] = [ ∑ p L ^ x ( p ) , ∑ q L ^ y ( q ) ] = ∑ p ∑ q [ L ^ x ( p ) , L ^ y ( q ) ] = ∑ p [ L ^ x ( p ) , L ^ y ( q ) ] = i h ∑ p [ L ^ z ( p ) = i h J ^ z https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/eqn8_1_B.tif"/> and similarly: 8.2 [ J ^ y , J ^ z ] = i h J ^ x , [ J ^ z , J ^ x ] = i h J ^ y https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781003078265/e77b8ce0-ccb3-48ed-9f6d-a84c8cb529c5/content/eqn8_2_B.tif"/>
Calculate the square A → ⋅ S → 2 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429092053/5e12ab0e-ba42-4caa-9bdf-6325e9117d3e/content/ineqn13_1.tif"/> of the scalar product of an arbitrary vector A → https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429092053/5e12ab0e-ba42-4caa-9bdf-6325e9117d3e/content/ineqn13_2.tif"/> and of the spin vector S → = S x i → + S y j → + S Z k → . https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429092053/5e12ab0e-ba42-4caa-9bdf-6325e9117d3e/content/ineqn13_3.tif"/>
Recall the two-component spinor, whose behavior under space rotations of angle θ about unit vector n was described by the operator exp (i θ n · M), where M = (1/2)σ. In Problem 21-3 you were concerned with the behavior of this spinor under Lorentz transformation. As was the case in space rotations it is sufficient to consider infinitesimal transformations. We write the corresponding operator as 1 + i ( v / c ) ⋅ N https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429492501/e6a0c676-1f8d-4684-97a0-6bf3353f7ce0/content/eq413.tif"/>