18 Angular Momentum 18-1 Electric dipole radiation In the last chapter we developed the idea of the conservation of angular momentum in quantum mechanics, and showed how it might be used to predict the angular distribution of the proton from the disintegration of the a-parucle ‘We want now to give you a number of other, similar, illustrations of the con- sequences of momentum conservation in atonvc systems Que first example is the radiation of light from an atom. The conservation of angular momentum (among other things) will determine the polarvzation and angular distribution of the emitted photons. ‘Suppose We have an atom which is in an excited state of definite angular ‘momentum—say with a spin of one—and it makes 2 transition to a state of angular momentum zero at a lower energy, emitting a photon, The problem is to figure out the angular distribution and polarization of the photons. (This problem 1s almost exactly the same as the A® disintegration, except that we have spin-one instead of spin one-half particles.) Since the upper state of the atom 1s spin one, there are three possiblities for 1s 2-component of angular momentum. The value fof m could be +1, oF 0, or —1. We will take m = +1 for our example, Once Yyou see how it goes, you can work out the other eases, We suppase that the atom is sitting with its angular momentum along the ++2-axis—as in Fig, 18-I(a)—and ask with what amplitude it will emit right circularly polarized light upward along the zaxis, so that the atom ends up with zero angular momentum—as shown in part (b) of the figure. Well, we don't know the answer to that. But we do know that right circularly polarized light has one unit of angular momentum about its direction of propagation. So after the photon is emitted, the situation would have to be as shown 1n Fig. 18-1(b)—the atom is let with zero angular momentum int ATOMN —jx0, nei EXCITED ne Stave | 18.2 Light scattering 18-3 The anni lation of positronium 18-4 Rotation matrix for any spin 18-5 Measuring a nuclear spin 18-6 Composition of angular mo- mentum Added Note 1: Derivation of the rota- tion matrix ‘Added Note 2: Conservation of parity in photon emission aneuTune aweuTupe | BEFORE AFTER BEFORE arTer (e) ) co (w Fig. 18-1. An otom with m= -H1 Fig. 18-2. An atom with m= —1 emits @ RHC photon along me -+z-0xi. et emits @ LHC photon along the +-aRis+ & Q .o- ~o- ig. 18-3. If the process of (0) is transformed by an inversion through the center of the atom, it eppears os in (b). about the z-axis, since we have assumed an atom whose lower state is spin zero, We will let a stand for the amplitude for such an event. More precisely, we let « be the amplitude to emit a photon into a certain small solid angle AQ, centered fon the z-axis, during a time df. Notice that the amplitude to emit a LHC photon in the same direction is zero. The net angular momentum about the z-axis would be =I for such a photon and zero for the atom for a total of —1, which would not conserve angular momentum. Similarly, if the spin of the atom is initially “own” (—1 along the z-axis) it can emit only a LHC polarized photon in the direction of the +2-axis, as shown in Fig. 18-2. We will let 6 stand for the amplitude for this event—meaning again the amplitude that the photon goes into a certain solid angle A. On the other hhand, ifthe atom isin the m = Ostat, it cannot emit a photon in the +-2-direction at all, because a photon can have only the angular momentum +1 or ~1 along ts direction of motion, ‘Next, we can show that b is related to a. Suppose we perform an inversion of the situation in Fig. 18-1, which means that we should imagine what the system ‘would look like if we were to move each part ofthe system to an equivalent point ‘on the opposite side of the origin. This does nor mean that we should reflect the angular momentum vectors, because they are artifical. We should, rather, invert the actual character of the motion that would correspond to such an angular ‘momentum. In Fig. 18-3(a) and (b) we show what the process of Fig, 18-1 looks like before and after an inversion with respect to the center of the atom. Notice that the sense of rotation of the atom is unchanged.t In the inverted system of Fig, 18-3(b) we have an atom with m = -+1 emitting a LHC photon downward. If we now rotate the system of Fig. 18-3(b) by 180° about the x- or y-axis, it becomes identical to Fig. 18-2. The combination of the inversion and rotation turns the second process into the first. Using Table 17-2, we see that a rotation of 180° about the y-axis just throws an m = —I state into an m = +1 state, so the amplitude 5 must be equal to the amplitude « except for a possible sign change due 10 the inversion. The sign change in the inversion will depend on the parities of the intial and final state of the atom. In atomic processes, party is conserved, so the parity of the whole system _must be the same before and after the photon emission. What happens will depend. con whether the parities of the initial and final states of the atom are even or odd— the angular distribution of the radiation will be different for different cases. We will take the common case of odd parity for the initial state and even parity for the final state; it will give what is called “electric dipole radiation.” (If the instial and final states have the same parity we say there is “magnetic dipole radiation,” ‘which has the character of the radiation from an oscillating current in a loop.) If the parity of the initial state is odd, its amplitude reverses its signin the inversion which takes the system from () to (6) of Fig. 18-3. The final state of the atom hhas even parity, so its amplitude doesn’t change sign. If the reaction is going to conserve parity, the amplitude & must be equal to @ in magnitude but of the ‘opposite sign. We conclude that if the amplitude is a that an m = +1 state will emit a photon upward, then for the assumed parities of the initial and final states the amplitude that an m = —1 state will emit # LHC photon upward is —a.t We have all we need to know to find the amplitude for a photon to be emitted at any angle # with respect to the z-axis. Suppose we have an atom originally polarized with m = +1, We can resolve this state into +1, 0, and —I states with respect to a new 2'-axis in the direction of the photon emission. The ampli- tudes for these three states are just the ones given in the lower half of Table 17-2. + When we change x, »,z into —x, ~y, ~2, you might think that all vectors get re- versed. That is true for polar vectors like displacements and velocities, but not for an ‘axial vector lke angular momentum—or any vector which 1s derived from across product Of two polar vectors. Axial vectors have the same components after an inversion {Some of you may object tothe argument we have just made, on the basis thatthe final states we have been considering do not have a definite panty. You will find in Added [Note 2a the end of this chapter another demonstration, which you may prefer. 12‘The amplitude that a RHC photon is emitted in the direction 0 is then a times the amphtude to have m = +1 in that direction, namely, a(+1R@+) = 2.0 + 0080), as) The amplitude tha a LHC photon i emitedin the sume direction ss —a umes the amplitue to have m = tin the new direction. Using Table 17-2, 1 Hal [RO|-4) = 4 = eos) 82) I you are interested in other polarizations you can find out the amplitude for them from the superposition of these two amplitudes To get the intensity of any component as a function of angle, you must, of course, take the absolute square of the amplitudes. 18-2 Light scattering Let's use these results to solve a somewhat more complicated problem— ‘but also one which is somewhat more real. We suppose that the same atoms are sitting in their ground state (j = 0), and scatter an incoming beam of light. Let's say thatthe light is going inataly in the +2-direction, so that we have photons coming up to the atom from the ~2-direction, as shown in Fig. 18-4(a).. We ean consider the scattering of light as a two-step process: The photon is absorbed, and then is re-emitted. If we start with a RHC photon as in Fig. 18-4(a), and angular momentum is conserved, the atom will be in an m = ++I state after the absorption—as shown in Fig. 18-4(b). We call the amplitude for this process ¢ ‘The atom can then emit x RHC photon in the direction ¢—as in Fig, 18-4(c). ‘The total amplitude that a RHC photon is scattered in the direction 8 is just ¢ times (18.1). Let's call this scattering amplitude (R’| S| R); we have (RI S|R) = SU + cos, (183) ‘There is also an amplitude that a RHC photon will be absorbed and that a LHC photon will be emitted. The product of the two amplitudesis the amplitude (L'| S| R) that a RHC photon is scattered as a LHC photon. Using (18.2), we have W|S1R) = -¥ a ~ cose iss) Now let's ask about what happens if a LHC photon comes in. When it is absorbed, the atom will go into an m = —I state, By the same kind of arguments we used in the preceding section, we can show that this amplitude must be —c. ‘The amplitude that an atom in the m = —I state will emit a RHC photon at the angle Gis a umes the amplitude (+ | Ry(0) | —), whichis #(1 — cos #). So we have (R’| SIL) $= cos, ass) Finally, the amplitude for « LHC photon to be scattered as a LHC photon is Wisin) = £0 bean 1186) (There are two minus sigs which cancel.) Tf we make a measurement of the scateredintensuy for any given combina- tion of cicular polarizations it willbe proportional to the square of one of our four amplitudes. For instance, with an incoming beam of RHI light the intensity of the RHC light in the scattered radiation wil vary as (1 ++ cos 8) That's all very well, but suppose we slart out with linearly polarized ght What then? If we have polarized light, it can be represented a a superposition ia 23 t © Fig. 18-4 fon otom #4 role > a a The scattering of light by nas @ two-step process. ® I