Generalized Spherical Harmonics
We generalize the spherical harmonics for l=1 and give the differential equation that the generalized forms satisfy. The new forms have an obvious interpretation in the context of quantum mechanics.
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arXiv subjects
Habatwa Vincent Mweene
Publications and source records attributed to Habatwa Vincent Mweene.
Generalized Spin-1/2 Operators and Their Eigenvectors
Recently, we have shown how the interpretation of quantum mechanics due to Lande' can be used to derive from first principles generalized formulas for the operators and some eigenvectors for spin 1/2 Though we gave the operators for all the components of the spin, we did not give the eigenvectors of the operators for the x and y components of the spin. We now give these vectors. In addition, we present a new and simple method of deriving the operators for the x and y components of the spin as well as their vectors from those for the z component. We give a general proof that the operator for the square of the spin is the unit matrix multiplied by the value of the square of the spin.
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Vectors and Operators For Spin 1 Derived From First Principles
In this paper, we extend to the case of spin 1 the method we have devised for deriving generalized spin quantities from first principles, and which we illustrated using the spin-1/2 case. Again, we not only derive from first principles the standard results but we obtain new generalized results as well. Our success in doing this shows that our method is of general validity and can be applied to any value of J.
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Alternative Forms of Generalized Vectors and Operators for Spin 1/2
The forms of the generalized quantities that we have recently introduced are dependent on the phase of the probability amplitudes for spin-projection measurements. In this paper, we show explicitly that changing the phase gives different forms for both the spin vectors and spin operators. Therefore, there are as many forms of these quantities as there are different choices of phase.
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Spin Description and Calculation in the Lande' Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
We explain the connection between the generalized spin quantities we have recently introduced and standard forms. We show how the calculation of various quantities of interest using these new forms is done. Focusing attention on expectation values, we find that in every case, the standard results can be obtained as special cases arising from the new generalized results.
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Derivation of Spin Vectors and Operators From First Principles
The interpretation of quantum mechanics due to Lande' is applied to the connection between wave mechanics and matrix mechanics. The connection between the differential eigenvalue equation and the matrix eigenvalue equation for an operator is elucidated. In particular, we show that the elements of a matrix vector state are probability amplitudes with a structure rather than being mere constants. We obtain the most general expressions for the probability amplitudes for the description of spin-1/2 measurements. As a result, we derive spin-1/2 operators and vectors from first principles. The procedure used is analogous to that by which orbital angular momentum wavefunctions and operators are transformed to matrix mechanics vectors and matrices. The most generalized forms of the spin operators and their eigenvectors for spin-1/2 are derived and shown to reduce to the Pauli spin matrices and vectors in an appropriate limit.
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Derivation of Standard Treatment of Spin Addition From Probability Amplitudes
In a recent paper, we introduced a new way of treating systems of compounded angular momentum. We obtained the probability amplitudes for measurements on the systems and used these to derive the matrix treatment of compounded spin. However, the matrix forms are in 3- and 4- dimensional space and are therefore entirely different from the standard forms. This raises the question of the connection between these forms and the standard forms. In this paper, we answer this question. We not only derive the standard matrix treatment of spin addition - we discover a more generalized form of the theory. We apply the new generalized theory to the singlet and triplet states arising from the addition of the spins of two systems of spin 1/2 each. We obtain new generalized forms of the vectors and operators for these cases, and show that they reduce to the standard forms in the appropriate limit.
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New Treatment of Systems of Compounded Angular Momentum
The approach to quantum mechanics which we have used to derive the matrix treatment of spin from first principles is now employed to treat systems of compounded angular momentum. A general treatment is first given, which is then applied to the concrete cases of a spin-0 and a spin-1 system obtained by adding the spins of two spin-1/2 systems. Thus the probability amplitudes for measurements on the systems are derived, as well as the matrix vectors and operators corresponding to the systems. The matrix operators and states obtained are different from the standard forms and are much more generalized. The new results are applied to the case of joint measurements on the subsystems of such a system; this is a problem that has been made very topical by the high level of interest in the foundations of quantum mechanics. As a consequence of the insights arising from this treatment, we show that the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients are amenable to generalization, and we give the generalized forms for these cases.
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