Assignment V

Q1. The composite spin state of two spin half particles is given by

1 i 1
|   |   |    |   |    |   |  
2 2 2

a) If the z-component of the spin of the second particle is measured, what is the probability for the two
possible values?


b) If the spin of particle 2 in part a) above is found to be  , and spin of the first particle is then
2
measured, what are the possible outcomes and what are their probabilities?

c) In part a), if the x-component of the spin of particle 2 is measured, what are the possible outcomes and
what are their probabilities?

Q2. Consider a spin-1/2 particle confined in a rigid one-dimensional box extending from x = 0 to x =  .
The wave function of the particle at t = 0 is given by the Pauli spinor

 sin x  
A  
 sin 2x  
a) Find the normalization constant A

b) Are space and spin motions entangled?

c) Find the probability of finding the particle between x   4 & 3 4 with spin up.

d) Find the probability of finding the particle between x   4 & 3 4

e) What is the probability of finding the particle with spin down?

f) What is the probability of finding the particle in the ground state with spin up?

g) What is the probability of finding the particle in the first excited state?

h) What is the mean value of energy of the particle?

i) What will be the wave function (Pauli spinor) at a later time t?

j) What will be the wave function at time t id a uniform magnetic field B in the z-direction is switched on
at t = 0

Q3. Let A 1 be an operator in Hilbert space H 1 and A 2 an operator in Hilbert space H 2 . Let
 
i i 1, 2 ,....
& i 
i  1, 2 ,...
be eigenkets of A1 & A 2 with corresponding eigenvalues a i i1, 2,.. and
bi i1,2,... respectively in their respective Hilbert spaces. Construct eigenkets and corresponding
eigenvalues of i) A 1  A 2 and ii) A1  A 2 .

Q4. Consider the three dimensional harmonic oscillator with Hamiltonian

  Px2 1 2 2
 Py2 1   P2 1 
H x  H y  H z    m X     m2 Y 2    z  m2 Z 2 
 
 2m 2   2m 2   2m 2 
You can think of the Hilbert space of the three dimensional harmonic oscillator to be the tensor sum of
the Hilbert spaces of 1D oscillators along x, y, z axes respectively : H = Hx  Hy  Hz. . Use the answer
of Q2 above to find the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the three dimensional harmonic oscillator.

Q5a) Find the change in the polar and azimuthal angles,  &  , of a point when the point is rotated by
infinitesimal angle  about the x and y and z axes.
b) Consider the spin state

| n̂;    e i 2 cos 2 |    e i 2 sin  2 |  

Note that this differs by an overall phase factor from the form we have used earlier.

The spin vector of the state points in the n̂ direction with  &  being the polar and azimuthal angles of
the direction.

Now, the ket is rotated by infinitesimal angle  about the z-axis.

i) Find the new spin orientation n̂  and hence the corresponding ket.

ii) Show that | n̂ ;    (I  i   S z ) | n̂;  

iii) Show that similar results hold when the infinitesimal rotations are about x and y axes respectively.
Hence conclude that spin angular momentum is the generator of rotation in the spin space.

Q6. Find the operator L2 in Cartesian coordinates.

Q7) Use the answer of part 4a and the fact that L x , L y & L z are the generators of rotation about the
corresponding axes, find the three operators in polar coordinates.

Q8) Using the answer to question 7, find L  , L  & L2 in spherical polar coordinates.

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