LECTURE 12

SPINS
Topics Today

❑Spin: Historical Aspect

❑Electron in Magnetic Field

❑Stern Gerlach Experiment

❑Larmor Precession

❑Spin Operators
Spins: Historical Aspect
• In 1925 Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit
postulated the existence of a new
intrinsic property of particles that
behaved like an angular momentum.
• This intrinsic property was later
termed spin by Pauli, however, the
image of a spinning sphere is not
likely an accurate one. This new
property needs to be viewed as an
intrinsic property like mass and
charge that is particular to a given
type of particle. Note that, unlike
mass and charge, there is no classical
analog to spin!
 A complete set of quantum numbers
Hence the complete set of quantum numbers for the electron in the H atom is:
n,l,m,s,ms with s = ½ and ms = +/- ½. These correspond to a full wavefunction

 nlmsm (r) = Rnl (r )Ylm (   )  s,m

s s

1 0
1/ 2,1/ 2 =   , 1/ 2, −1/ 2 =  
0 1
Note that the spin functions χ do not depend on the electron spatial
coordinates r,θ,φ; they represent a purely internal degree of freedom.
H atom in magnetic field, with spin included:

Hˆ = H 0 + B B  (L̂ + gŜ)

g = 2(Dirac' s reletivist ic theory)
g = 2.0023193043 7(Quantum Electrodynamics )
Spin

In Classical Mechanics

Orbital Angular Momentum: Motion of centre of mass.

Spin: Motion about centre of mass.

Elementary Particles: Intrinsic Angular Momentum

Extrinsic Angular Momentum

For angular momentum:

Spin

Spin: Fundamental Commutation Relations

Eigenvectors for S2 and Sz

Spin 1/2
Spin of particles that make all ordinary matter: protons, electrons and
neutrons as well as quarks and all leptons.

Two eigenstates: Spin up Spin down

Spinors

s =1/2:
Spin

Pi meson: s=0 Electrons: s = ½

Photons: s = 1 Deltas: s = 3/2
Gravitons: s = 2
Angular momentum quantum number can take any integer, l.
Spin, s is fixed for any particle.
Stern-Gerlach Experiment

The Stern-Gerlach Experiment (SGE) is performed in 1921, to see if electron has an

intrinsic
magnetic moment.
• A beam of hot (neutral) Silver (47Ag) atoms was used.
• The beam is passed through an inhomogeneous magnetic field along z axis. This field
would
interact with the magnetic dipole moment of the atom, if any, and deflect it.
• Finally, the beam strikes a photographic plate to measure, if any, deflection.
Stern-Gerlach Experiment
In an inhomogeneous magnetic field:

This force separates out particles with particular spin orientation.

Consider a beam of relative neutral relatively heavy neutral atoms, traveling in the y-
direction in an inhomogenous magnetic field:

Because of Larmor precision about B0, Sx oscillates rapidly and averages to zero,
the net force is in the z-direction.
Stern-Gerlach Experiment

The beam is deflected up and down, in proportion to the z-component of the

spin angular momentum. Beam splits into 2s + 1 separate streams.

Atom with s = 1/2

Stern-Gerlach Experiment
❑ If the electrons were like ordinary magnets with random orientations, they would show a continues
distribution of points. The photographic plate would have shown a continues distribution of impact positions.
However, in the experiment, it was found that the beam pattern on the photographic plate had split into two
distinct parts. Atoms were deflected either up or down by a constant amount, in roughly equal numbers.

Apparently, z component of the electron’s spin is quantized.

Electron in Magnetic Field

Spinning charge constitute a magnetic dipole.

Magnetic dipole moment,  is proportional to spin angular momentum:
Larmor Precession
A particle of spin ½ at rest in a uniform a magnetic field:
Larmor Precession

The general solution to the time-dependent Scroedinger Equation:

Larmor Precession
At t = 0:

a = cos (a /2) b = sin (a/2) Significance of a will be obvious later

Larmor Precession
Determining Spin Operator S2
Determining Spin Operator Sz

Pauli Spin Matrix

Eigenspinors of Sz

If Sz is measured on a particle in a general state

is the probability of getting Sz =

is the probability of getting Sz =

The spinors must be normalized.

Eigenspinors of Sx

The normalized eigenspinors for Sx

Example:
PROBLEM 1
PROBLEM 2
PROBLEM 3