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Angular momentum (sometimes called moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of linear momentum.It is an important physical quantity because it is a conserved quantity – the total angular momentum of a closed system remains constant.
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. Being an observable, its eigenfunctions represent the ...
With respect to classical physics, conservation laws include conservation of energy, mass (or matter), linear momentum, angular momentum, and electric charge. With respect to particle physics, particles cannot be created or destroyed except in pairs, where one is ordinary and the other is an antiparticle.
As an illustration, if a physical system behaves the same regardless of how it is oriented in space (that is, it's invariant), its Lagrangian is symmetric under continuous rotation: from this symmetry, Noether's theorem dictates that the angular momentum of the system be conserved, as a consequence of its laws of motion.
For reference and background, two closely related forms of angular momentum are given. In classical mechanics, the orbital angular momentum of a particle with instantaneous three-dimensional position vector x = (x, y, z) and momentum vector p = (p x, p y, p z), is defined as the axial vector = which has three components, that are systematically given by cyclic permutations of Cartesian ...
Examples of integrals of motion are the angular momentum vector, =, or a Hamiltonian without time dependence, such as (,) = + (). An example of a function that is a constant of motion but not an integral of motion would be the function C ( x , v , t ) = x − v t {\displaystyle C(x,v,t)=x-vt} for an object moving at a constant speed in one ...
The building of eigenstates of the total conserved angular momentum from the angular momentum eigenstates of the individual subsystems is referred to as angular momentum coupling. Application of angular momentum coupling is useful when there is an interaction between subsystems that, without interaction, would have conserved angular momentum.
Classically we have for the angular momentum =. This is the same in quantum mechanics considering and as operators. Classically, an infinitesimal rotation of the vector = (,,) about the -axis to ′ = (′, ′,) leaving unchanged can be expressed by the following infinitesimal translations (using Taylor approximation):