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ANGULAR MOMENTUM
Particle in a Ring
Consider a variant of the one-dimensional particle in a box problem in which
the x-axis is bent into a ring of radius R. We can write the same Schr
odinger
equation
h2 d2 (x)
= E(x)
(1)
2m dx2
There are no boundary conditions in this case since the x-axis closes upon
itself. A more appropriate independent variable for this problem is the
angular position on the ring given by, = x/R. The Schr
odinger equation
would then read
h2 d2 ()
= E()
(2)
2mR2 d2
The kinetic energy of a body rotating in the xy-plane can be expressed as
L2z
E=
2I
(3)
This result will follow from a more general derivation in the following Section. The Schr
odinger equation (2) can now be written more compactly
as
00 () + m2 () = 0
(5)
where
m2 2IE/h2
(6)
(Please do not confuse this variable m with the mass of the particle!) Possible solutions to (5) are
() = const eim
(7)
1
In order for this wavefunction to be physically acceptable, it must be singlevalued. Since increased by any multiple of 2 represents the same point
on the ring, we must have
( + 2) = ()
(8)
eim(+2) = eim
(9)
e2im = 1
(10)
and therefore
This requires that
which is true only is m is an integer:
m = 0, 1, 2 . . .
(11)
m
() m () d = 1
(14)
0
m0 m () d =
ei(mm ) d
2 0
0
Z 2
1
=
[cos(m m0 ) + i sin(m m0 )] d = 0
2 0
for m0 6= m
(14)
m = 0, 1, 2 . . .
(16)
2mR2
The ring radius R can be approximated by the CC distance in benzene,
1.39
A. We predict 210 nm, whereas the experimental absorption has
max 268 nm.
3
Figure 2. Spherical
polar coordinates.
(16)
The radial variable r represents the distance from r to the origin, or the
length of the vector r:
p
r = x2 + y 2 + z 2
(18)
The coordinate is the angle between the vector r and the z-axis, similar
to latitude in geography, but with = 0 and = corresponding to the
North and South Poles, respectively. The angle describes the rotation of
r about the z-axis, running from 0 to 2, similar to geographic longitude.
The volume element in spherical polar coordinates is given by
d = r2 sin dr d d,
r {0, } , {0, } , {0, 2}
(19)
1 2
1
1
2
r
+
sin
+
r 2 r r r 2 sin
r2 sin2 2
(20)
Y (, ) = E Y (, )
2M
(21)
1 2
sin
+
+ Y (, ) = 0
sin
sin2 2
where
=
2M R2 E
2IE
=
h2
2
h
(22)
(23)
5
(24)
and follow the procedure used for the three-dimensional box, we find that
dependence on alone occurs in the term
00 ()
= const
()
(25)
1 im
e
,
2
m = 0, 1, 2 . . .
(26)
1 d
d
m2
sin
+ () = 0
sin d
d sin2
(27)
` = 0, 1, 2 . . .
(28)
while
m = 0, 1, 2 . . . `
(2`+1 values)
(29)
Putting (28) into (23), the allowed energy levels for a particle on a sphere
are found to be
h2
E` =
`(` + 1)
(30)
2I
Since the energy is independent of the second quantum number m, the levels
(30) are (2`+1)-fold degenerate.
6
2
0
(31)
The following table lists the spherical harmonics through ` = 2, which will
be sufficient for our purposes.
Spherical Harmonics Y`m (, )
1/2
1
Y00 =
4
1/2
3
Y10 =
cos
4
1/2
3
Y11 =
sin ei
4
1/2
5
Y20 =
(3 cos2 1)
16
1/2
15
Y21 =
cos sin ei
8
1/2
15
Y22 =
sin2 e2i
32
A graphical representation of these functions is given in Fig. 4. Surfaces of
constant absolute value are drawn, positive where green and negative where
red. Other colors represent complex values.
1 2
sin
+
sin
sin2 2
(33)
z Y`m (, ) = m h Y`m (, )
L
(34)
=
=
=
==-
This discreteness in the allowed directions of the angular momentum vector is called space quantization. The existence of simultaneous eigenstates
2 and any one component, conventionally L
z , is consistent with the
of L
commutation relations derived in Chap. 4:
x, L
y ] = ihL
z
[L
et cyc
(4.43)
and
2, L
z] = 0
[L
(4.44)
Electron Spin
The electron, as well as certain other fundamental particles, possesses an
intrinsic angular momentum or spin, in addition to its orbital angular momentum. These two types of angular momentum are analogous to the daily
and annual motions, respectively, of the Earth around the Sun. To distinguish the spin angular momentum from the orbital, we designate the
quantum numbers as s and ms , in place of ` and m. For the electron, the
quantum number s always has the value 12 , while ms can have one of two
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