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Oxford University Press eBooks

Quantized Rotational Motion in a Plane

Jochen Autschbach

Published Dec 21, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The angular momentum for the simplified case of a particle rotating in a fixed plane is treated. The ‘perimeter model’ is the analogue of the one-dimensional particle in a box (PiaB), with the particle moving on a circle with fixed radius. This requires cyclic – or periodic – boundary conditions. It is shown that the quantum perimeter model results can be obtained by re-interpreting the coordinate of the linear PiaB and by considering the periodic boundary conditions. The eigenvalue pattern leads to a 4n+2 Huckel rule. Next, the chapter discusses hindered rotations, such as the rotation of a methyl group around a C-C bond. The solutions to the hindered rotation problem combine features of the harmonic oscillator at low energies, with features of the perimeter model at high energies.

DOI
10.1093/oso/9780190920807.003.0015

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Abstract The angular momentum for the simplified case of a particle rotating in a fixed plane is treated. The ‘perimeter model’ is the analogue of the one-dimensional particle in a box (PiaB), with the particle moving on a circle with fixed radius. This requires cyclic – or periodic – boundary conditions. It is shown that the quantum perimeter model results can be obtained by re-interpreting the coordinate of the linear PiaB and by considering the periodic boundary conditions. The eigenvalue pattern leads to a 4n+2 Huckel rule. Next, the chapter discusses hindered rotations, such as the rotation of a methyl group around a C-C bond. The solutions to the hindered rotation problem combine features of the harmonic oscillator at low energies, with features of the perimeter model at high energies.
This chapter focuses on the motion first on a circle and then on the surface of a sphere. It discusses the imposition of certain constraints on the wavefunction which shows how the energy and angular momentum of a rotating particle are quantized. It also examines the energy and the angular momentum of a rotating object which are quantized. The chapter reviews quantum mechanics and shows what they reveal about rotational motion. The chapter also considers a particle of mass m moving in a circular path of radius r in the xy-plane. It highlights translational motion which focuses on linear momentum, p and analogous angular momentum, J if rotational motion is considered.
This chapter focuses on the concept of rotational motion. It explains that energy and angular momentum for a particle rotating in two- or three-dimensions are quantized and satisfied cyclic boundary conditions, which imply the quantization of angular momentum's magnitude and z-component. The electronic structure of atoms showcases rotational motion because electrons orbit around nuclei and spin on their axis. The chapter details the solutions for the Schrödinger equation and the vector model of angular momentum. It also discusses the concept of space quantization revolving around the quantum mechanical result of a rotating body that may not take up an arbitrary orientation concerning some specified axis.
This chapter considers rotational motion as the second class of motion of an object around a fixed point and angular momentum, which is one of the most important topics in quantum mechanics. It discusses the rotational motion and angular momentum in terms of solutions of the Schrödinger equation and see how its properties emerge from the operators for angular momentum and their commutation relations. It also examines the quantum mechanical description of a particle travelling on a circular ring, which applies to the motion of a bead on a circle of wire and any body rotating in a plane. The chapter describes the moment of inertia the property, which determines the characteristics of the rotational motion of a body. It cites a particle of mass m travelling on a circle of radius r in the xy-plane and its potential energy that is constant and taken to be zero.
Abstract The simple ‘particle in a box’ (Piab) is introduced in this chapter so that the reader can get familiar with applying the quantum recipe and atomic units. The PiaB is introduced in its one, two, and three dimensional variants, which demonstrates the use of the separation of variables technique as a strategy to solve the Schrodinger equation for a particle with two or three degrees of freedom. It is shown that the confinement of the particle causes the energy to be quantized. The one-dimensional PiaB is then applied to treat the electronic spectra of cyanine dyes and their absorption colors. The chapter then introduces more general setups with finite potential wells, in order to introduce the phenomenon of quantum tunnelling and to discuss more generally with the unintuitive ‘quantum behavior’ of particles such as electrons. Scanning tunnelling and atomic force microscopes are also discussed briefly.
Abstract This chapter treats rotations in three dimensions and the angular momentum quantum mechanically. The angular momentum is a 3-vector that plays the same role in the kinetic energy of rotating particles as the linear momentum 3-vector plays in the kinetic energy for translational motion. The quantum operator for the three components do not commute, i.e. the full vector cannot be known. Each component commutes with the operator for the square-length of the angular momentum vector, and therefore one opts for calculating the square-length and one of the components, z, referred to as the projection. The angular momentum is quantized. The (azimuthal) quantum number ℓ = 0,1,2,3… quantifies the square-length as ℓ(ℓ+1), and the projection is quantified by the (magnbetic) quantum number mℓ = -ℓ…ℓ in integer steps. The eigenfunctions are called spherical harmonics. A ‘rigid rotor’ model is set up to treat the rotational spectrum of a diatomic molecule.
The eigenstates of a free quantum particle propagating in a plane are derived in the context of phase space quantum mechanics. Two possibilities are analysed. First, the case of a particle with fixed energy and angular momentum is considered. A special choice of coordinates on the four-dimensional phase space, suitable for representing the eigenstates of the particle under consideration, is presented. A phase-space counterpart of the product of operators, known as the Moyal product, is derived in these coordinates. The eigenvalue equations are solved, and their physically acceptable solutions, called Wigner functions, are identified. Second, a particle with fixed components of the Cartesian momentum is considered. A relationship is found between the Wigner function of the particle with fixed Cartesian momentum components and some functions characterising the particle with fixed energy and angular momentum.