Physics 443, Solutions to PS 5

1. Angular Momentum
(a) Since l = 1 and m = 1, 0, we have that
L
2
= h
2
_
_
_
2 0 0
0 2 0
0 0 2
_
_
_, and L
z
= h
_
_
_
1 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 1
_
_
_.
L
+
= h
_
_
_
0

2 0
0 0

2
0 0 0
_
_
_, and L

= h
_
_
_
0 0 0

2 0 0
0

2 0
_
_
_.
Then
L
2

m
= h
2
l(l + 1)
m
= h
2
2
m
where l = 1.
L
z

m
= hm
m
.
and
L

m
= h
_
l(l + 1) m(m1)
m1
To calculate L
y
, we use that
L
y
=
L
+
L

2i
=
h
2i
_
_
_
0

2 0

2 0

2
0

2 0
_
_
_ =
h
i

2
_
_
_
0 1 0
1 0 1
0 1 0
_
_
_ =
h
i
J.
(b) Using that R
y
() = exp(iL
y
/ h) = exp(J), and doing a Taylor
expansion we nd that
= I + J +
1
2

2
J
2
+
1
3!

3
J
3
+
1
4!

4
J
4
...
= I + J +
1
2

2
J
2

1
3!

3
J
1
4!

4
J
2
...
= I + J cos + J
2
(1 cos )
=
1
2
_
_
_
1 + cos

2 sin 1 cos

2 sin 2 cos

2 sin
1 cos

2 sin 1 + cos
_
_
_.
where we have used the fact that J
3
= J and J
4
= J
2
.
2. Griths 4.19.
1
(a)
[L
z
, x] = [xp
y
yp
x
, x] = [xp
y
, x] [yp
x
, x] = y[p
x
, x] = i hy
[L
z
, y] = [xp
y
yp
x
, y] = [xp
y
, y] [yp
x
, y] = x[p
y
, y] = i hx
[L
z
, z] = [xp
y
yp
x
, z] = [xp
y
, z] [yp
x
, z] = 0
[L
z
, p
x
] = [xp
y
yp
x
, p
x
] = [xp
y
, p
x
] [yp
x
, p
x
] = p
y
[x, p
x
] = i hp
y
[L
z
, p
y
] = [xp
y
yp
x
, p
y
] = [xp
y
, p
y
] [yp
x
, p
y
] = p
x
[y, p
y
] = i hp
x
[L
z
, p
z
] = [xp
y
yp
x
, p
z
] = [xp
y
, p
z
] [yp
x
, p
z
] = 0
(b)
[L
z
, L
x
] = [L
z
, yp
z
zp
y
]
= y[L
z
, p
z
] + [L
z
, y]p
z
z[L
z
, p
y
] [L
z
, z]p
y
= 0 i hxp
z
+ i hzp
x
+ 0
= i h(zp
x
xp
z
) = i hL
y
(c)
[L
z
, r
2
] = [L
z
, x
2
] + [L
z
, y
2
] + [L
z
, z
2
]
= x[L
z
, x] + [L
z
, x]x + y[L
z
, y] + [L
z
, y]y + z[L
z
, z] + [L
z
, z]z
= i2 hxy i2 hyx + 0
= 0
[L
z
, p
2
] = [L
z
, p
2
x
] + [L
z
, p
2
y
] + [L
z
, p
2
z
]
= p
x
[L
z
, p
x
] + [L
z
, p
x
]p
x
+ p
y
[L
z
, p
y
] + [L
z
, p
y
]p
y
+ p
z
[L
z
, p
z
] + [L
z
, p
z
]p
z
= i2 hp
x
p
y
i2 hp
y
p
x
+ 0
= 0
(d)
[H, L] = [
p
2
2m
, L] + [V (r), L]
=
1
2m
_
[p
2
, L
x
] x + [p
2
, L
y
] y + [p
2
, L
z
] z
_
+ [V (r), L
x
] x + [V (r), L
y
] y + [V (r), L
z
] z
= 0
In the last step we take advantage of the fact that if [L
z
, p
2
] =
0, then the same must be true for L
x
, and L
y
. The x,y and z
2
components of the angular momentum operator can be written as
dierential operators that are functions only of and . Since the
operator does not have an r dependence it will commute with a
function V (r) that depends only on r.
3. Griths 4.20. From the Equation of Motion, we have that
d
dt
L =
i
h
[H, L].
We can calculate this commutator as follows
[H, L] = [
p
2
2m
, L] + [V, r x p]. (1)
We showed in problem in problem 2 (Griths 4.19), that [L
z
, p
2
] = 0.
The same is true for L
x
and L
y
so the rst term vanishes. . Then
[V, r p] = r [V, p] [V (r), r] p
The second commutator is zero since V (r) is a function of r. For the
second term, you can write p = i h. Then
r [V, p] = i hr [V, ] = i hr V
It follows that
d
dt
L = r (V (r)).
For a potential that depends only on the magnitude of r, we see that
the gradient of V (|r|) is in the r direction, and r r = 0 giving us that
the angular momentum is conserved.
4. Griths 4.22. Being a state of maximum L
z
, we get that L
+
Y
l
l
= 0.
To get the functional form,we write L
+
as a dierential operator,
L
+
= he
i
_

+ i cot

_
.
Then
0 = L
+
Y
l
l
= he
i
_

+ i cot

_
Y
l
l
(, )
0 =
_
1
cot

+ i

_
Y
l
l
(, )
3
We try separating variables and write Y
l
l
(, ) = g()h() and then
0 =
_
1
cot

+ i

_
g()h()

1
cot g()

g() =
i
h()

h() = k
As usual since all of the dependence is on the left and all of the
dependence on the right, then both are equal to a constant, k. Then
dh()
h
= ikd h = (constant)e
ik
Also
dg
g
= k cot g ln(g) = k
_
cot d
= k ln sin + constant
g = c sin
k

And so Y
l
l
(, ) = c sin
k
e
ik
. We use the fact that Y
l
l
is an eigenstate
of L
z
with eigenvalue hl to determine k.
L
z
Y
l
l
= h

c sin
k
e
ik
hl = hkc sin
k
e
ik
k = l
We x the normalization constant by integrating.
1 = |c|
2
_
2
0
_

0
sin
2l
sin dd
1 = 2|c|
2
_
sin
2l+1
() d.
We use that
_
2
0
sin
2p1
cos
2q1
=
(p)(q)
2(p + q)
In our case, q = 1/2, and p = l + 1. Putting it all together, we have
that
1 = 4|c|
2
(l + 1)

2(l + 3/2)
4
In the particluar case that l = 3, we have
c =

_
(l + 3/2)
(l + 1)2

7!!
3!2
5
=

35
64
5. Griths, 4.27. An electron is in the spin state
= A
_
3i
4
_
.
(a) Determine the normalization constant A.
[

= 1 = |A|
2
( 3i 4 )
_
3i
4
_
= |A|
2
(25)
A =
1
5
]
(b) Find the expectation values of S
x
, S
y
, and S
z
.
[S
x
= =

S
x
= |A|
2
( 3i 4 )
h
2
_
0 1
1 0
__
3i
4
_
=
1
25
( 3i 4 )
h
2
_
4
3i
_
= 0
S
y
= |A|
2
( 3i 4 )
h
2
_
0 i
i 0
__
3i
4
_
=
1
25
( 3i 4 )
h
2
_
4i
3
_
=
24
25
h
2
S
z
= |A|
2
( 3i 4 )
h
2
_
1 0
0 1
__
3i
4
_
=
1
25
( 3i 4 )
h
2
_
3i
4
_
=
7
25
h
2
]
5
(c) Find the uncertainties
Sx
,
Sy
, and
Sz
. (Note : These sigmas
are standard deviations, not Pauli matrices!) [Remember that

S
2
i
= S
2
i
S
i

2
, and also that S
2
i
=
1
3
S
2
. Then

2
Sx
= S
2
x
S
x

2
=
h
2
4
(1 0) =
h
2
4

2
Sy
= S
2
y
S
y

2
=
h
2
4
(1
_
24
25
_
2
) =
h
2
4
_
7
25
_
2

2
Sz
= S
2
z
S
z

2
=
h
2
4
(1
_
7
25
_
2
) =
h
2
4
_
24
25
_
2
]
(d) Conrm that your results are consistent with all three uncertainty
principles, namely

Sx

Sy

h
2
|L
z
|
and its cyclic permutations.
[
Sx

Sy
=
_
h
2
_
2 _
7
25
_

_
h
2
_
S
z
=
_
h
2
_
2 _
7
25
_

Sy

Sz
=
_
h
2
_
2
7
25
24
25

_
h
2
_
S
x
= 0

Sz

Sx
=
_
h
2
_
2
24
25

_
h
2
_
S
y
=
_
h
2
_
2
24
25
]
6. Griths 4.28. For the most general normalized spinor where
=
_
a
b
_
= a
+
+ b

,
with

+
=
_
1
0
_
, and

=
_
0
1
_
,
compute S
x
, S
y
, S
z
, S
2
x
, S
2
y
, and S
2
z
. Check that S
2
x
+S
2
y
+
S
2
z
= S
2

[S
x
=
h
2
( a

)
_
0 1
1 0
__
a
b
_
=
h
2
(a

b + b

a)
6
S
y
=
h
2
( a

)
_
0 i
i 0
__
a
b
_
=
i h
2
(a

b b

a)
S
z
=
h
2
( a

)
_
1 0
0 1
__
a
b
_
=
h
2
(|a|
2
|b|
2
)
Since S
2
x
= S
2
y
= S
2
z
=
1
3
S
2
, it follows that
S
2
x
= S
2
y
= S
z

2
=
1
3
S
2
=
1
4
h
2
7