Wigner–Eckart Theorem
The Wigner–Eckart theorem is a theorem of representation theory and quantum mechanics. It states that matrix elements of spherical tensor operators in the basis of angular momentum eigenstates can be expressed as the product of two factors, one of which is independent of angular momentum orientation, and the other a Clebsch–Gordan coefficient. The name derives from physicists Eugene Wigner and Carl Eckart, who developed the formalism as a link between the symmetry transformation groups of space (applied to the Schrödinger equations) and the laws of conservation of energy, momentum, and angular momentum.Eckart Biography – The National Academies Press. Mathematically, the Wigner–Eckart theorem is generally stated in the following way. Given a tensor operator and two states of angular mome ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Theorem
In mathematics, a theorem is a statement that has been proved, or can be proved. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to establish that the theorem is a logical consequence of the axioms and previously proved theorems. In the mainstream of mathematics, the axioms and the inference rules are commonly left implicit, and, in this case, they are almost always those of Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice, or of a less powerful theory, such as Peano arithmetic. A notable exception is Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, which involves the Grothendieck universes whose existence requires the addition of a new axiom to the set theory. Generally, an assertion that is explicitly called a theorem is a proved result that is not an immediate consequence of other known theorems. Moreover, many authors qualify as ''theorems'' only the most important results, and use the terms ''lemma'', ''proposition'' and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Angular Momentum Operator
In quantum mechanics, the angular momentum operator is one of several related operators analogous to classical angular momentum. The angular momentum operator plays a central role in the theory of atomic and molecular physics and other quantum problems involving rotational symmetry. Such an operator is applied to a mathematical representation of the physical state of a system and yields an angular momentum value if the state has a definite value for it. In both classical and quantum mechanical systems, angular momentum (together with linear momentum and energy) is one of the three fundamental properties of motion.Introductory Quantum Mechanics, Richard L. Liboff, 2nd Edition, There are several angular momentum operators: total angular momentum (usually denoted J), orbital angular momentum (usually denoted L), and spin angular momentum (spin for short, usually denoted S). The term ''angular momentum operator'' can (confusingly) refer to either the total or the orbital angular momen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parity (physics)
In physics, a parity transformation (also called parity inversion) is the flip in the sign of ''one'' spatial coordinate. In three dimensions, it can also refer to the simultaneous flip in the sign of all three spatial coordinates (a point reflection): :\mathbf: \beginx\\y\\z\end \mapsto \begin-x\\-y\\-z\end. It can also be thought of as a test for chirality of a physical phenomenon, in that a parity inversion transforms a phenomenon into its mirror image. All fundamental interactions of elementary particles, with the exception of the weak interaction, are symmetric under parity. The weak interaction is chiral and thus provides a means for probing chirality in physics. In interactions that are symmetric under parity, such as electromagnetism in atomic and molecular physics, parity serves as a powerful controlling principle underlying quantum transitions. A matrix representation of P (in any number of dimensions) has determinant equal to −1, and hence is distinct from a rotat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Basis (linear Algebra)
In mathematics, a set of vectors in a vector space is called a basis if every element of may be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of . The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to . The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of is a linear combination of elements of . In other words, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set. A vector space can have several bases; however all the bases have the same number of elements, called the ''dimension'' of the vector space. This article deals mainly with finite-dimensional vector spaces. However, many of the principles are also valid for infinite-dimensional vector spaces. Definition A basis of a vector space over a field (such as the real numbers or the complex numbers ) is a linearly independent subset of that spans . This me ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Modern Quantum Mechanics
''Modern Quantum Mechanics'', often called ''Sakurai'' or ''Sakurai and Napolitano'', is a standard graduate-level quantum mechanics textbook written originally by J. J. Sakurai and edited by San Fu Tuan in 1985, with later editions coauthored by Jim Napolitano. Sakurai died in 1982 before he could finish the textbook and both the first edition of the book, published in 1985 by Benjamin Cummings, and the revised edition of 1994, published by Addison-Wesley, were edited and completed by Tuan posthumously. The book was updated by Napolitano and released two later editions. The second edition was initially published by Addison-Wesley in 2010 and rereleased as an eBook by Cambridge University Press, who released a third edition in 2020. Table of Contents (3rd edition) * Prefaces * Chapter 1: Fundamental Concepts * Chapter 2: Quantum Dynamics * Chapter 3: Theory of Angular Momentum * Chapter 4: Symmetry in Quantum Mechanics * Chapter 5: Approximation Methods * Chapter 6: Scattering ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tensor Operator
In pure and applied mathematics, quantum mechanics and computer graphics, a tensor operator generalizes the notion of operators which are scalars and vectors. A special class of these are spherical tensor operators which apply the notion of the spherical basis and spherical harmonics. The spherical basis closely relates to the description of angular momentum in quantum mechanics and spherical harmonic functions. The coordinate-free generalization of a tensor operator is known as a representation operator. The general notion of scalar, vector, and tensor operators In quantum mechanics, physical observables that are scalars, vectors, and tensors, must be represented by scalar, vector, and tensor operators, respectively. Whether something is a scalar, vector, or tensor depends on how it is viewed by two observers whose coordinate frames are related to each other by a rotation. Alternatively, one may ask how, for a single observer, a physical quantity transforms if the state of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hermitian Adjoint
In mathematics, specifically in operator theory, each linear operator A on a Euclidean vector space defines a Hermitian adjoint (or adjoint) operator A^* on that space according to the rule :\langle Ax,y \rangle = \langle x,A^*y \rangle, where \langle \cdot,\cdot \rangle is the inner product on the vector space. The adjoint may also be called the Hermitian conjugate or simply the Hermitian after Charles Hermite. It is often denoted by in fields like physics, especially when used in conjunction with bra–ket notation in quantum mechanics. In finite dimensions where operators are represented by matrices, the Hermitian adjoint is given by the conjugate transpose (also known as the Hermitian transpose). The above definition of an adjoint operator extends verbatim to bounded linear operators on Hilbert spaces H. The definition has been further extended to include unbounded '' densely defined'' operators whose domain is topologically dense in—but not necessarily equal to— ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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3-j Symbol
In quantum mechanics, the Wigner 3-j symbols, also called 3''-jm'' symbols, are an alternative to Clebsch–Gordan coefficients for the purpose of adding angular momenta. While the two approaches address exactly the same physical problem, the 3-''j'' symbols do so more symmetrically. Mathematical relation to Clebsch–Gordan coefficients The 3-''j'' symbols are given in terms of the Clebsch–Gordan coefficients by : \begin j_1 & j_2 & j_3 \\ m_1 & m_2 & m_3 \end \equiv \frac \langle j_1 \, m_1 \, j_2 \, m_2 , j_3 \, (-m_3) \rangle. The ''j'' and ''m'' components are angular-momentum quantum numbers, i.e., every (and every corresponding ) is either a nonnegative integer or half-odd-integer. The exponent of the sign factor is always an integer, so it remains the same when transposed to the left, and the inverse relation follows upon making the substitution : : \langle j_1 \, m_1 \, j_2 \, m_2 , j_3 \, m_3 \rangle = (-1)^ \sqrt \begin j_1 & j_2 & ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Physical Review
''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society (APS). The journal is in its third series, and is split in several sub-journals each covering a particular field of physics. It has a sister journal, ''Physical Review Letters'', which publishes shorter articles of broader interest. History ''Physical Review'' commenced publication in July 1893, organized by Cornell University professor Edward Nichols and helped by the new president of Cornell, J. Gould Schurman. The journal was managed and edited at Cornell in upstate New York from 1893 to 1913 by Nichols, Ernest Merritt, and Frederick Bedell. The 33 volumes published during this time constitute ''Physical Review Series I''. The American Physical Society (APS), founded in 1899, took over its publication in 1913 and star ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Schur's Lemma
In mathematics, Schur's lemma is an elementary but extremely useful statement in representation theory of groups and algebras. In the group case it says that if ''M'' and ''N'' are two finite-dimensional irreducible representations of a group ''G'' and ''φ'' is a linear map from ''M'' to ''N'' that commutes with the action of the group, then either ''φ'' is invertible, or ''φ'' = 0. An important special case occurs when ''M'' = ''N'', i.e. ''φ'' is a self-map; in particular, any element of the center of a group must act as a scalar operator (a scalar multiple of the identity) on ''M''. The lemma is named after Issai Schur who used it to prove the Schur orthogonality relations and develop the basics of the representation theory of finite groups. Schur's lemma admits generalisations to Lie groups and Lie algebras, the most common of which are due to Jacques Dixmier and Daniel Quillen. Representation theory of groups Representation theory is the study of homomorphi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Projection (linear Algebra)
In linear algebra and functional analysis, a projection is a linear transformation P from a vector space to itself (an endomorphism) such that P\circ P=P. That is, whenever P is applied twice to any vector, it gives the same result as if it were applied once (i.e. P is idempotent). It leaves its image unchanged. This definition of "projection" formalizes and generalizes the idea of graphical projection. One can also consider the effect of a projection on a geometrical object by examining the effect of the projection on points in the object. Definitions A projection on a vector space V is a linear operator P : V \to V such that P^2 = P. When V has an inner product and is complete (i.e. when V is a Hilbert space) the concept of orthogonality can be used. A projection P on a Hilbert space V is called an orthogonal projection if it satisfies \langle P \mathbf x, \mathbf y \rangle = \langle \mathbf x, P \mathbf y \rangle for all \mathbf x, \mathbf y \in V. A projection on a Hilbert ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Direct Sum
The direct sum is an operation between structures in abstract algebra, a branch of mathematics. It is defined differently, but analogously, for different kinds of structures. To see how the direct sum is used in abstract algebra, consider a more elementary kind of structure, the abelian group. The direct sum of two abelian groups A and B is another abelian group A\oplus B consisting of the ordered pairs (a,b) where a \in A and b \in B. To add ordered pairs, we define the sum (a, b) + (c, d) to be (a + c, b + d); in other words addition is defined coordinate-wise. For example, the direct sum \Reals \oplus \Reals , where \Reals is real coordinate space, is the Cartesian plane, \R ^2 . A similar process can be used to form the direct sum of two vector spaces or two modules. We can also form direct sums with any finite number of summands, for example A \oplus B \oplus C, provided A, B, and C are the same kinds of algebraic structures (e.g., all abelian groups, or all vector spa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |