Paper 4, Section II, A

Principles of Quantum Mechanics | Part II, 2012

Setting ℏ=1\hbar=1, the raising and lowering operators J±=J1±iJ2J_{\pm}=J_{1} \pm i J_{2} for angular momentum satisfy

[J3,J±]=±J±,J±∣jm⟩=(j∓m)(j±m+1)∣jm±1⟩,\left[J_{3}, J_{\pm}\right]=\pm J_{\pm}, \quad J_{\pm}|j m\rangle=\sqrt{(j \mp m)(j \pm m+1)}|j m \pm 1\rangle,

where J3∣jm⟩=m∣jm⟩J_{3}|j m\rangle=m|j m\rangle. Find the matrix representation S±S_{\pm}for J±J_{\pm}in the basis

Suppose that the angular momentum of the state v=∣1m⟩\mathbf{v}=|1 m\rangle is measured in the direction n=(0,sin⁡θ,cos⁡θ)\mathbf{n}=(0, \sin \theta, \cos \theta) to be +1+1. Find the components of v\mathbf{v}, expressing each component by a single term consisting of products of powers of sin⁡(θ/2)\sin (\theta / 2) and cos⁡(θ/2)\cos (\theta / 2) multiplied by constants.

Suppose that two measurements of a total angular momentum 1 system are made. The first is made in the third direction with value +1+1, and the second measurement is subsequently immediately made in direction n\mathbf{n}. What is the probability that the second measurement is also +1+1 ?

Typos? Please submit corrections to this page on GitHub.