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CONSERVATION OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM IN QUANTUM MECHANICS

Lele FAN, Feng Wang, Tianhai ZENG

Published Oct 1, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The recent two papers have successively proposed the concepts and more precise expressions of strict conservation or statistical conservation of physical quantities, which are different from the expression of a conserved quantity in quantum mechanics. The Hamiltonian operator of the system discussed in this paper are independent of time, so it is commutative with the operators of an angular momentum itself, its component and its square, so that all these quantities are conserved quantities. In an isolated composite system, one of the angular momentum components of the total system are strictly conserved, while the angular momentum components of the subsystems can only be conserved statistically, both of which can be expressed in terms of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Generally, angular momentum itself does not have eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, so it cannot be expressed as strict conservation in terms of these concepts. Although there are eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for the square of angular momentum, they cannot express strict conservation either. And they can only be expressed as statistical conservation.

DOI
10.26599/phys.2024.9320519

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The recent two papers have successively proposed the concepts and more precise expressions of strict conservation or statistical conservation of physical quantities, which are different from the expression of a conserved quantity in quantum mechanics. The Hamiltonian operator of the system discussed in this paper are independent of time, so it is commutative with the operators of an angular momentum itself, its component and its square, so that all these quantities are conserved quantities. In an isolated composite system, one of the angular momentum components of the total system are strictly conserved, while the angular momentum components of the subsystems can only be conserved statistically, both of which can be expressed in terms of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Generally, angular momentum itself does not have eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, so it cannot be expressed as strict conservation in terms of these concepts. Although there are eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for the square of angular momentum, they cannot express strict conservation either. And they can only be expressed as statistical conservation.
Angular momentum is a very important and revealing property of many physical systems. In classical mechanics the principle of conservation of angular momentum is a powerful aid to the solution of such problems as the orbits of planets and satellites and the behaviour of gyroscopes and tops. The role of angular momentum in quantum mechanics is probably even more important and this will be the subject of the present chapter and the next. We shall find that the operators representing the components of angular momentum do not commute with each other, although they all commute with the operator representing the total angular momentum. It follows that no pair of these components can be measured compatibly and we shall therefore look for a set of eigenfunctions that are common to the operators representing the total angular momentum and one of its components. We shall find that the angular momentum eigenvalues always form a discrete set and that, in the case of a central field, the operators commute with the Hamiltonian, implying that the total angular momentum and one component can be measured compatibly with the energy in this case, so that their values, once measured, remain constant in time. Consideration of angular momentum will also enable us to make predictions about the behaviour of atoms in magnetic fields, and we shall find that these are in agreement with experiment only if we assume that the electron (in common with many other fundamental particles) has an intrinsic “spin” angular momentum in addition to the “orbital” angular momentum associated with its motion. The interaction between spin and orbital angular momenta leads to detailed features of the atomic spectra which are known as “fine structure.” We shall also use the measurement of angular momentum to illustrate the quantum theory of measurement discussed in the previous chapter.
The angular momentum plays an important role in quantum mechanics. It is no longer an ordinary vector, instead it is a vector operator, whose three components do not commute with each other. In quantum mechanics, the angular momentum becomes a vector operator. A general angular momentum is defined as a vector operator whose components are Hermitian operators satisfying the commutation relations similar to those for the orbital angular momentum. In order to obtain the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, it is more convenient to express the orbital angular momentum operators in spherical polar coordinates. Spin angular momentum is an intrinsic property of elementary particles. In quantum computing, a qubit or quantum bit is a quantum version of the classical binary bit physically realized in a two-state quantum-mechanical system.
The theory of angular momentum performance a significant position in the classical and quantum mechanical study of physical properties, such as studies into nuclear, atomic, and molecular processes, as well as other quantum problems, including spherical symmetry. In this analysis, angular momentum operators are described in multiple ways, based on the angular momentum operator's commutator, matrix, and geometric representation, The eigenvalue and eigenvector were also known for operatorsJ ̂_±,J ⃑ ̂^2, J ̂_x,J ̂_y and J ̂_zwithin the |j,┤ ├ m⟩ basis. Furthermore, in quantum mechanics, angular momentum is called quantized variable, meaning that it comes in discrete quantities. In contrast to the macroscopic system case where a continuous variable is angular momentum.
Eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of the operator of the square of the angular momentum are studied. It is shown that neither from the requirement for the eigenfunctions be normalizable nor from the commutation relations it is possible to prove that the eigenvalues spectrum is a set of only integer numbers (in units ℏ=1\hbar=1ℏ=1). We present regular, normalizable eigenfunctions with the non-integer eigenvalues thus demonstrating that a non-integer angular momentum is admissible from the theoretical viewpoint.
The monitoring of the three independent components of the angular momentum (or spin) of a quantum system by its environment that does not isolate any preferred orientation is modelled in two different ways. One describes the dynamics by the Lindblad equation generated by three independent angular momentum operators. The other uses iterated measurements of the ``phase-space'' point on the sphere in terms of the positive operator-valued measure generated by SU(2) coherent states. In contrast to the equivalent scenario on a flat phase space, these two models give rise to subtle differences. Specifically, it is shown that the two super-operators corresponding to the two decoherence models for angular momentum systems are commutative, but their eigenvalues are different. Hence although both models give rise to phase-space decoherence, their dynamical behaviours are not equivalent. In either model, we find that the characterisation of classicality as represented by the decay rates of the elements of the density matrix (i.e. decoherence) and that as represented by the positivity of the quasiprobability distribution are not equivalent for angular momentum systems.