2.II.32A

Principles of Quantum Mechanics
Part II, 2006

Let |\uparrow\rangle and |\downarrow\rangle denote the eigenstates of SzS_{z} for a particle of spin 12\frac{1}{2}. Show that

θ=cosθ2+sinθ2,θ=sinθ2+cosθ2|\uparrow \theta\rangle=\cos \frac{\theta}{2}|\uparrow\rangle+\sin \frac{\theta}{2}|\downarrow\rangle, \quad|\downarrow \theta\rangle=-\sin \frac{\theta}{2}|\uparrow\rangle+\cos \frac{\theta}{2}|\downarrow\rangle

are eigenstates of Szcosθ+SxsinθS_{z} \cos \theta+S_{x} \sin \theta for any θ\theta. Show also that the composite state

χ=12(),|\chi\rangle=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|\uparrow\rangle|\downarrow\rangle-|\downarrow\rangle|\uparrow\rangle),

for two spin- 12\frac{1}{2} particles, is unchanged under a transformation

θ,θ|\uparrow\rangle \mapsto|\uparrow \theta\rangle, \quad|\downarrow\rangle \mapsto|\downarrow \theta\rangle

applied to all one-particle states. Hence, by considering the action of certain components of the spin operator for the composite system, show that χ|\chi\rangle is a state of total spin zero.

Two spin- 12\frac{1}{2} particles A and B have combined spin zero (as in the state χ|\chi\rangle above) but are widely separated in space. A magnetic field is applied to particle B in such a way that its spin states are transformed according to ()(*), for a certain value of θ\theta, while the spin states of particle A are unaffected. Once this has been done, a measurement is made of SzS_{z} for particle A, followed by a measurement of SzS_{z} for particle B. List the possible results for this pair of measurements and find the total probability, in terms of θ\theta, for each pair of outcomes to occur. For which outcomes is the two-particle system left in an eigenstate of the combined total spin operator, S2S^{2}, and what is the eigenvalue for each such outcome?

[σx=(0110),σy=(0ii0),σz=(1001)]\left[\sigma_{x}=\left(\begin{array}{cc} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{array}\right), \quad \sigma_{y}=\left(\begin{array}{cc} 0 & -i \\ i & 0 \end{array}\right), \quad \sigma_{z}=\left(\begin{array}{cc} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & -1 \end{array}\right) \cdot\right]