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The conventional definition of the spin quantum number is s = n / 2 , where n can be any non-negative integer. Hence the allowed values of s are 0, 1 / 2 , 1, 3 / 2 , 2, etc. The value of s for an elementary particle depends only on the type of particle and cannot be altered in any known way (in contrast to the spin ...
The existence of spinors in 3 dimensions follows from the isomorphism of the groups SU(2) ≅ Spin(3) that allows us to define the action of Spin(3) on a complex 2-component column (a spinor); the generators of SU(2) can be written as Pauli matrices. In 4 Euclidean dimensions, the corresponding isomorphism is Spin(4) ≅ SU(2) × SU(2).
Given a unit vector in 3 dimensions, for example (a, b, c), one takes a dot product with the Pauli spin matrices to obtain a spin matrix for spin in the direction of the unit vector. The eigenvectors of that spin matrix are the spinors for spin-1/2 oriented in the direction given by the vector. Example: u = (0.8, -0.6, 0) is a unit vector ...
Spin- 1 / 2 particles can have a permanent magnetic moment along the direction of their spin, and this magnetic moment gives rise to electromagnetic interactions that depend on the spin. One such effect that was important in the discovery of spin is the Zeeman effect , the splitting of a spectral line into several components in the ...
A sphere rotating (spinning) about an axis. Rotation or rotational motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an axis of rotation.A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersecting anywhere inside or outside the figure at a center of rotation.
The entire vector ξ is a solution of the Schrödinger equation (with a suitable Hamiltonian), which unfolds to a coupled system of 2s + 1 ordinary differential equations with solutions ξ(s, t), ξ(s − 1, t), ..., ξ(−s, t). The term "spin function" instead of "wave function" is used by some authors.
Quarks are fermions—specifically in this case, particles having spin 1 / 2 ( S = 1 / 2 ). Because spin projections vary in increments of 1 (that is 1 ħ), a single quark has a spin vector of length 1 / 2 , and has two spin projections, either ( S z = + 1 / 2 or S z = − + 1 / 2 ).
So a standard clock, with its spin vector defined by the rotation of its hands, has left-handed helicity if tossed with its face directed forwards. Mathematically, helicity is the sign of the projection of the spin vector onto the momentum vector : "left" is negative, "right" is positive.