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Angular momentum
Up to this point, we have been dealing primarily with one dimensional
systems. In practice, of course, most of the systems we deal with live
in three dimensions and 1D quantum mechanics is at best a useful
model. In this section, we will focus in particular on the quantum
mechanics of 3D systems. Many of the elements we discovered for
one dimensional problems will carry over directly to higher
dimensions; however, we will encounter certain effects that are
qualitatively new, and we will spend most of our time exploring these
new phenomena.
r
→
r̂ ≡ (ixˆ + jyˆ + kzˆ ) p → p̂ ≡
≈Δ ipˆ + jpˆ +
k
pˆ ’
«
x y z ÷◊
a. Rotations
It is easy to verify that the rotation operators associated with the three
Cartesian axes are:
≈1 0 0
’
Δ ÷
R x (θ )
= Δ 0
cos θ
− sin θ ÷
Δ 0 sin θ cos θ
÷
«
◊
≈ cos θ
0 sin θ ’
Δ ÷
R y (θ ) = Δ 0 1 0
÷
Δ
−
sin θ 0 cos θ ÷
«
◊
≈ cos θ − sin θ 0
’
Δ ÷
R
z (θ )
= Δ sin θ cosθ 0 ÷
Δ
0 0 1 ÷
«
◊
Note that the rotation matrices for x and y can be obtained from the z
matrix by the cyclic permutation x → y, y → z, z → x . This must
always be the case, because our labeling of the x, y and z axes is
totally arbitrary! The only thing we must be careful of is that the “triple
product” z ⋅ (x × y ) is always +1. This defines the handedness, or
chirality, of our coordinates. Cyclic permutations preserve the
handedness while a simple interchange of two axes (i.e. x ↔ y ) will
flip the sign of the triple product, reverse the handedness of our
coordinates and give us the wrong answer (try it and see). This cyclic
invariance is very important because it reduces the work we need to
do by a factor of 3, but we must be careful to apply it correctly. In the
future, we can therefore state the result for the z axis and then infer
the results for x and y by cyclic permutations.
Δ ÷
J z = ZΔ i
0 0 ÷
Δ
0 0 0 ÷
«
◊
b. Commutation Relations
0 ◊
Δ 0 0 0 ÷
«
«
◊
≈0 0 i ’≈ 0 0 0’ ≈0 1 0’
Δ ÷Δ ÷ Δ ÷
− J y J x = −Z 2 Δ 0 0 0 ÷Δ 0 0
− i ÷ = Z2 Δ 0 0 0÷
Δ
− i 0 0 ÷◊Δ« 0 i ÷
0 ◊
Δ0 0 0 ÷
«
«
◊
Ω [J x ,J y ] = iZJ z
[J z , J 2 ] = [J z , J x2 ] + [J z , J y2 ] = [J z ,J x ]J x + J x [J z ,J x ] + [J z ,J y ]J
y + J y [J z ,J y ]
= (− iZJ y )J x + J x (− iZJ y ) +
(iZJ x )J y + J y (iZJ x )
=0
Note that these J matrices are not quantum operators – they are
simply transformations of 3D space.
− Lˆ y Lˆ x = − (zˆpˆ x − xˆpˆ z )( yˆpˆ z − zˆpˆ y ) = − zˆpˆ x yˆ pˆ z + zˆpˆ x zˆpˆ y + xˆpˆ z yˆ pˆ z − xˆpˆ z zˆpˆ y
[ ]
Ω Lˆ x , Lˆ y = yˆ pˆ x [ pˆ z , zˆ ] + xˆpˆ y [zˆ, pˆ z ]
c. Eigenstates
Jˆ α , β = α α , β
2
Jˆ z α , β = β α , β
It is convenient to define the raising and lowering operators (note the
similarity to the Harmonic oscillator!):
Jˆ ± ≡ Jˆ x ± iJˆ y
Which satisfy the commutation relations:
[ ]
Jˆ + , Jˆ− = 2ZJˆ z [ ] [
Jˆ z , Jˆ ± = ± ZJˆ± ]
Jˆ± , Jˆ 2 = 0
The raising and lowering operators have a peculiar effect on the
eigenvalue of Jˆ z :
[ ]
Jˆ z ( Jˆ ± α , β ) = ( Jˆ z , Jˆ± + Jˆ ± Jˆ z ) α , β = (β ± Z )( Jˆ ± α , β )
Thus, Jˆ + ( Jˆ − ) raises (lowers) the eigenvalue of Jˆ z by Z , hence the
names. Since the raising and lowering operators commute with Jˆ 2
they do not change the value of α and so we can write
Jˆ ± α , β ∝ α , β ± Z
and so the eigenvalues of Jˆ are evenly spaced.
z
What are the limits on this ladder of eigenvalues? Recall that for the
harmonic oscillator, we found that there was a minimum eigenvalue
and the eigenstates could be created by successive applications of
the raising operator to the lowest state. There is also a minimum
eigenvalue in this case. To see this, note that:
(α − β 2 = ) α , β Jˆ 2 − Jˆ z2 α , β = 12 α , β ( Jˆ+ Jˆ− + Jˆ− Jˆ+ ) α , β
1
= α , β ( Jˆ+ Jˆ+† + Jˆ +† Jˆ + ) α , β
2
1 2 1 2
= α , β Jˆ + + Jˆ + α , β ≥ 0
2 2
Hence β ≤ α and therefore − α ≤ β ≤ α . Which means that there
2
are both maximum and minimum values that β can take on for a
given α. If we denote these values by βmax and βmin, respectively,
then it is clear that
Jˆ + α , β max = 0 Jˆ − α , β min = 0 .
We can then use this knowledge and a trick to determine the
relationship between α and βmax (or βmin):
Ω Jˆ − Jˆ+ α , β max = 0 Jˆ + Jˆ− α , β min = 0
( )
Ω Jˆ x2 + Ĵ y2 − i( Jˆ y Jˆ x − Jˆ x Jˆ y ) α , β max = 0 ( )
Jˆ x2 + Ĵ y2 + i ( Jˆ y Jˆ x − Jˆ x Jˆ y ) α , β min = 0
( )
Ω Jˆ 2 − Jˆ z2 − ZJˆ z α , β max = 0 ( )
Jˆ 2 − Jˆ z2 + ZĴ z α , β min = 0
Ω (α − β max
2
− Zβ max ) = 0 (α − β 2
min + Zβ min ) = 0
Ω α = β max ( β max + Z ) = β min ( β min − Z)
Ω β max = − β min ≡ Zj
So we have that − Zj ≤ β ≤ Zj . Further, since we can get from the
lowest to the highest eigenvalue in increments of Z by successive
applications of the raising operator, it is clear that the difference
between the highest and lowest values [ Zj − (− Zj ) = 2Zj ] must be an
integer multiple of Z . Thus, j itself must either be an integer or a
half-integer.
= Z 2 [ j ( j + 1) − m 2 ± m ] = C ±j ,m
2