ANGULAR MOMENTUM - COMMUTATORS

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Post date: 21 July 2021.
We’ve seen that the angular momentum operator L̂ is the generator of
rotations. We can also define L̂ directly from its classical definition as the
cross product of position and momentum. Along with energy and momen-
tum, angular momentum is one of the fundamental, conserved quantities in
both classical and quantum physics. Classically, angular momentum L is
defined as the vector product of the position r and linear momentum p:

L = r×p (1)
In terms of components, this gives

Lx = ypz − zpy (2)

Ly = zpx − xpz (3)
Lz = xpy − ypx (4)
Since we already know the quantum mechanical operators for position
and linear momentum, we can substitute these into the classical equations
to get
 
∂ ∂
Lx = − ih̄ y − z (5)
∂z ∂y
 
∂ ∂
Ly = − ih̄ z −x (6)
∂x ∂z
 
∂ ∂
Lz = − ih̄ x − y (7)
∂y ∂x
Note the symmetry of these three operators: Ly is obtained from Lx by
the replacements y → z and z → x. Similarly Lz is obtained from Ly by the
replacements z → x and x → y. These two replacements are just cyclic per-
mutations of the position components (x, y, z). This fact is useful in calcu-
lations involving the angular momentum components, since in many cases
the equation need only be worked out in detail for one of the components,
1
 ANGULAR MOMENTUM - COMMUTATORS 2

with the corresponding equation for the other two components following
from the cyclic permutation.
In quantum mechanics, two quantities that can be simultaneously deter-
mined precisely have operators which commute. We can therefore calculate
the commutators of the various components of the angular momentum to
see if they can be measured simultaneously. To work out these commuta-
tors, we need to work out the commutator of position and momentum.
As always when dealing with differential operators, we need a dummy
function f on which to operate. This function need not have any special
properties apart from being differentiable. So we get, using the product rule
 
∂f ∂(xf )
[x, px ] f = − ih̄ x − (8)
∂x ∂x
 
∂f ∂f
= − ih̄ x − x − f (9)
∂x ∂x
=ih̄f (10)
Thus the commutator on its own is just

[x, px ] = ih̄ (11)

By cyclic permutation, the commutators for the other components are the
same

[y, py ] =ih̄ (12)

[z, pz ] =ih̄ (13)
All mixed commutators are zero, since the derivative of one spatial coor-
dinate with respect to a different spatial coordinate is zero. That is,

[x, py ] =0 (14)
[x, pz ] =0 (15)
[y, px ] =0 (16)
and so on.
Using these results, we can work out the commutators of the angular
momentum components with each other. We’ll do one and use cyclic per-
mutation to write down the others.

[Lx , Ly ] = [ypz − zpy , zpx − xpz ] (17)

= [ypz , zpx ] − [zpy , zpx ] − [ypz , xpz ] + [zpy , xpz ] (18)
 ANGULAR MOMENTUM - COMMUTATORS 3

The middle two terms are zero since in each of these commutators the
momentum components are different from the position coordinates. Thus
we get

[Lx , Ly ] = [ypz , zpx ] + [zpy , xpz ] (19)

In the first term, px and y commute with pz and z and similarly in the
second term py and x commute with z and pz . So in each case we can pull
these operators outside the commutator and we get

[Lx , Ly ] =ypx [pz , z] + xpy [z, pz ] (20)

=ih̄ (xpy − ypx ) (21)
=ih̄Lz (22)
By using cyclic permutation, we can write down all three commutators:

[Lx , Ly ] =ih̄Lz (23)

[Ly , Lz ] =ih̄Lx (24)
[Lz , Lx ] =ih̄Ly (25)
Thus it is impossible to measure exactly more than one of the components
of L at a time.
A curious fact (and one that is fundamental to quantum mechanics), how-
ever, is that it is possible to measure the square of the total angular momen-
tum simultaneously with any one of its components. Again we can see this
by considering the commutators. The square of the total angular momentum
is

L2 = L2x + L2y + L2z (26)

and the commutator with, say, Lx is
 2
L , Lx = L2x , Lx + L2y , Lx + L2z , Lx
      
(27)
To work out this commutator, an identity is useful. For any 3 operators
A, B and C, we have

[AB, C] =ABC − CAB (28)

=ABC − ACB + ACB − CAB (29)
=A[B, C] + [A, C]B (30)
Therefore the first term above is
 ANGULAR MOMENTUM - COMMUTATORS 4

 2 
Lx , Lx =Lx [Lx , Lx ] + [Lx , Lx ] Lx (31)
=0 (32)
since any operator commutes with itself.
For the second term, we have
 2 
Ly , Lx =Ly [Ly , Lx ] + [Ly , Lx ] Ly (33)
=ih̄ (−Ly Lz − Lz Ly ) (34)
(Note that it’s very important to preserve the order of the terms in each
product.)
The third term becomes
 2 
Lz , Lx =Lz [Lz , Lx ] + [Lz , Lx ] Lz (35)
=ih̄ (Lz Ly + Ly Lz ) (36)
Doing the sum of the last two terms, we see they cancel each other, so
 2 
L , Lx = 0 (37)
SinceL2 is symmetric with respect to Lx , Ly and Lz it follows that it
commutes with all three components. Thus we have the important con-
clusion that in a quantum mechanical system it is possible to measure si-
multaneously the square of the total angular momentum and any one of its
components.
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