SPIN 1/2 ALONG AN ARBITRARY DIRECTION

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Reference: Griffiths, David J. (2005), Introduction to Quantum Mechan-
ics, 2nd Edition; Pearson Education - Problem 4.30.
Shankar, R. (1994), Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Plenum Press.
Chapter 14, Exercise 14.3.2.
Post date: 19 Jan 2013.
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We’ve seen what the spin 1/2 matrices look like along the 3 rectangu-
lar coordinate axes. From this, we can derive an expression for the spin
component along an arbitrary direction r̂. The unit radius vector is

r̂ = sin θ cos φî + sin θ sin φĵ + cos θk̂ (1)

We can get Sr by combining Sx , Sy and Sz according to the formula for
the radius vector:

Sr = S · r̂ (2)
= sin θ cos φSx + sin θ sin φSy + cos θSz (3)
By using the forms for the matrices derived earlier, and cos φ ± i sin φ =
e±iφwe get

cos θ sin θe−iφ

 
h̄
Sr = (4)
2 sin θeiφ − cos θ
The eigenvalues of this matrix are calculated in the usual way
 h̄ h̄ −iφ
 2
2 cos θ − λ 2 sin θe  = − h̄ cos2 θ + sin2 θ + λ2 = 0
  

h̄ iφ h̄ (5)

2 sin θe − 2 cos θ − λ  4
We get λ = ±h̄/2 as before so all is well at this stage.
To get the eigenspinors, we must solve

h̄ cos θ ± 1 sin θe−iφ

  
α
iφ =0 (6)
2 sin θe − cos θ ± 1 β
We get the equations
1
 SPIN 1/2 ALONG AN ARBITRARY DIRECTION 2

(cos θ ± 1)α + sin θe−iφ β = 0 (7)

sin θeiφ α − (− cos θ ± 1)β = 0 (8)
The two solutions (one for each sign) are

cos θ − 1
β+ = −eiφ α+ (9)
sin θ
cos θ + 1
β− = −eiφ α− (10)
sin θ
We can use the double-angle trig identities to simplify these expressions:

sin θ = 2 sin(θ/2) cos(θ/2) (11)

cos θ = cos2 (θ/2) − sin2 (θ/2) (12)
Substituting these together with cos2 (θ/2) + sin2 (θ/2) = 1 and simplify-
ing leads to

sin(θ/2)
β+ = eiφ α+ (13)
cos(θ/2)
cos(θ/2)
β− = −eiφ α− (14)
sin(θ/2)
The eigenspinors should be normalized, so

sin 2 (θ/2)
 
2 2 2
|β+ | + |α+ | = |α+ | +1 (15)
cos2 (θ/2)
sin2 (θ/2) + cos2 (θ/2)
 
2
= |α+ | (16)
cos2 (θ/2)
|α+ |2
= (17)
cos2 (θ/2)
= 1 (18)
Thus we can take

θ
α+ = cos (19)
2
Other answers are possible, since we can multiply α+ by any complex
exponential, as all that is important is that its magnitude is 1.
A similar calculation for the other solution leads to
 SPIN 1/2 ALONG AN ARBITRARY DIRECTION 3

|α− |2
=1 (20)
sin2 (θ/2)
We can take

θ
α− = sin (21)
2
These choices lead to
 
(r) cos(θ/2)
χ+ = iφ (22)
e sin(θ/2)
 
(r) sin(θ/2)
χ− = (23)
−eiφ cos(θ/2)
If we want the answer in Griffiths, we would choose α− = e−iφ sin θ2 ,
which leads to the answer:
 
(r) cos(θ/2)
χ+ = (24)
eiφ sin(θ/2)
 −iφ 
(r) e sin(θ/2)
χ− = (25)
− cos(θ/2)
The phase difference between the two components is the same in each
solution.
Shankar’s equations 14.3.28 use a slightly different phase, giving

cos θ2 e−iφ/2
 
|n̂+i = (26)
sin θ2 eiφ/2
− sin θ2 e−iφ/2
 
|n̂−i = (27)
cos θ2 eiφ/2
We can calculate hSi by using the spin matrices
 
h̄ 0 1
Sx = (28)
2 1 0
 
h̄ 0 −i
Sy = (29)
2 i 0
 
h̄ 1 0
Sz = (30)
2 0 −1
We have
 SPIN 1/2 ALONG AN ARBITRARY DIRECTION 4

cos θ2 e−iφ/2
  
h̄  0 1
cos θ2 eiφ/2 sin θ2 e−iφ/2

hn̂ + |Sx | n̂+i =
2 1 0 sin θ2 eiφ/2
(31)
 sin θ eiφ/2
 
h̄ 
= cos θ2 eiφ/2 sin θ2 e−iφ/2 2 (32)
2 cos θ2 e−iφ/2
h̄ θ θ  iφ −iφ

= sin cos e +e (33)
2 2 2
h̄
= sin θ cos φ (34)
2
θ −iφ/2
  
h̄  0 −i cos e
cos 2 eiφ/2 sin 2 e−iφ/2
θ θ

hn̂ + |Sy | n̂+i = 2
2 i 0 sin θ2 eiφ/2
(35)
 − sin θ eiφ/2
 
ih̄ 
= cos θ2 eiφ/2 sin θ2 e−iφ/2 2 (36)
2 cos θ2 e−iφ/2
h̄ θ θ  iφ 
= − sin cos −e + e−iφ (37)
2i 2 2
h̄
= sin θ sin φ (38)
2
cos θ2 e−iφ/2
  
h̄  θ iφ/2 θ −iφ/2
 1 0
hn̂ + |Sz | n̂+i = cos 2 e sin 2 e
2 0 −1 sin θ2 eiφ/2
(39)
 cos θ e−iφ/2
 
h̄ 
= cos θ2 eiφ/2 sin θ2 e−iφ/2 2 (40)
2 − sin θ2 eiφ/2
 
h̄ 2θ 2θ
= cos − sin (41)
2 2 2
h̄
= cos θ (42)
2
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