To leave a comment or report an error, please use the auxiliary blog. Reference: Griffiths, David J. (2005), Introduction to Quantum Mechan- ics, 2nd Edition; Pearson Education - Problem 4.28. Post date: 17 Jan 2013. The most general spin state for a spin 1/2 particle is
a χ= (1) b From this we can calculate the expectation values of the spin components. By direct matrix multiplication using the spin matrices, we get
h̄ ∗ ∗ 0 1 a h̄ hSx i = ( a b ) = (a∗ b + b∗ a) (2) 2 1 0 b 2 This is a real quantity since it is the sum of a number and its complex conjugate. Similarly
h̄ ∗ ∗ 0 −i a h̄ hSy i = ( a b ) = i (b∗ a − a∗ b) (3) 2 i 0 b 2 This is also real, since the difference of a number and its complex conju- gate is pure imaginary, so multiplying by i gives a real number. Finally,
h̄ ∗ ∗ 1 0 a h̄ hSz i = ( a b ) = (|a|2 − |b|2 ) (4) 2 0 −1 b 2
h̄2 1 0 2 2 Since Sx = Sy = Sz = 4 2 , hSx2 i = hSy2 i = hSz2 i = |χ|2 h̄2 /4 = 0 1 h̄2 /4, and hSx2 i + hSy2 i + hSz2 i = 3h̄2 /4 = hS 2 i which agrees with our orig- inal result. P INGBACKS Pingback: Spin 1/2: minimum uncertainty