Lecture 18

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 Classical Magnetic Dipole
In general, a particle of mass m and charge q (not necessarily a
point charge), we have
 q 
g L
2m
where g is called the gyromagnetic ratio, which accounts for the
effects of non-point charge distribution.

In the presence of a magnetic field, the interaction between the

field and the magnetic dipole results in additional potential
energy
  eLz
U B B
2me
2
Application to Quantum Mechanics
Assuming that the classical result remains valid in quantum
mechanics, the energy of a (n,l) state now is

eB eh
E En Lz En m B
2me 2me
eh
En m B B, B
2me Bohr magneton

The energy level is, therefore, split into 2l+1 levels. For
instance, an l=1 state is split into three, while an l=0 state is not
split. In other words, a transition from the former to latter state
can produce photons of three distinct energies (i.e., three lines),
rather than one.
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 Zeeman Effect
For instance, in a magnetic field of strength 4 T , the splitting is

eh 24
E B (9.3 10 J / T )(4 T )
2me
23 4
3.7 10 J 2.3 10 eV
Technical requirements:
• A high resolution spectrometer
• Strong magnetic field

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In Non-Uniform Magnetic Field …
If the applied magnetic field is not uniform, there will be a force
acting upon a magnetic dipole,
  
F U ( B)

If the gradient of the field is along the z-axis, the force is

Bz
F ( z Bz ) z Lz m
z z

A beam of particles with a mixture of states corresponding

to different quantum number m will be split into 2l+1 beams
after it passes through a non-uniform field.
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 Stern-Gerlach Experiment

Success: it allows visualization of the quantization of angular

momentum, one of the key predictions of quantum mechanics .

Puzzle: some atom beams (e.g., silver) were seen to split into
two or another even number of pieces. How?
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Additional Experimental Puzzles
• When the magnetic field is sufficiently strong, not all
Zeeman splitting can be accounted for with the l
quantum number.
Anomalous Zeeman Effect
• Hyperfine Structure

Intrinsic Angular Momentum of the Electron

In atoms with many electrons, there can be at most two

electrons in any given (n,l,m) state.

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 Spin of the Electron
Single electrons have a kind of internal angular momentum called
spin, with a quantum number analogous to l, i.e.,

Sˆ 2 el s( s 1)h 2 el

where el is an eigenfunction of the spin operator squared and s is

the spin.

For electrons, s=1/2. Therefore, the z-component of the spin

operator can only have two possible values,

1
Sˆ z ms h , ms
2
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 Complete Wave Function
of the Hydrogen Atom
Taking into account the spin quantum number of the electron,
the wave function of the hydrogen atom is

nlmms , )
( r Rnl (r )Ylm ( , )

which determines the probability that the electron is at a given

location and has one of the two possible spin projections.

Note that c is also an eigenfunction of S2, i.e,

1 1 3 2 Doubly
Sˆ 2 1 h2 h
2 2 4 Degenerate!
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 Degeneracy Revisited
Recall that the energy levels of the hydrogen atom depend only
on the principle quantum number n and that for a given n, there
is a n-fold degeneracy in l, a (2l+1)-fold degeneracy in m, and
double degeneracy in s.
Therefore, the total degeneracy associated with a state of principle
quantum number n is

n 1 n 1 n(n 1)
2 (2l 1) 4 l 2n 4 2n 2n 2
l 0 l 0 2
2
In other words, there are 2n possible wave functions that all
correspond to the nth bound-state energy.

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 Stern-Gerlach Experiment Revisited
Puzzle: Some atom beams (e.g., silver) were seen to split into
two or another even number of pieces. How?

Answer: A complete wave function must include the electron

spin.
For instance, there are now two wave functions for the ground
state of the hydrogen atom, 100+1/2 and 100-1/2 , corresponding
to an atom with its electron spin “parallel” or “antiparallel”
to the direction of the magnetic field applied. In general, the
ground state of a hydrogen atom is a linear superposition of
these wave functions,

C1 100 1 / 2 C2 100 1 / 2
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 Magnetic Moment of the Electron
Similar to the magnetic moment arising from the orbital angular
momentum of the electron, the electron also has an intrinsic
magnetic moment due to its intrinsic angular momentum (i.e.,
spin). By analogy, the intrinsic magnetic moment can be written
as
 e 
e ge S
2me

where ge is the gyromagnetic ratio of the electron.

The derivation of the gyromagnetic ratio requires relativistic
quantum mechanics. To a very high precision, it is 2. The
deviation from 2 led to the development of quantum
electrodynamics (QED).
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 Anomalous Zeeman Effect
Because the electron has intrinsic magnetic moment, the potential
energy due to the presence of a magnetic field is now

    
U mag tot B ( e orb ) B
e    eB
( ge S L) B ( Lz g e S z )
2me 2me

The change in the energy of the hydrogen due to the external

magnetic field is then

eBh
Emag (m g e ms )
2me
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 An Example
Consider the n=2, l=1 energy states of hydrogen. A magnetic
field of 1 T is applied.

For l=1 states, the allowed values for m is –1, 0, +1, so the field
split the (n,l)=(2,1) level into three levels, if the electron spin is
not taken into account (i.e., normal Zeeman effect).

The magnitude of splitting due to the spin is actually twice as

large,
19
ehB (1.6 10 C )(1.05 10 34 J s )(1 T )
E
me 9.1 10 31 kg
23 4
1.84 10 J 1.2 10 eV
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Anomalous Zeeman Effect
m=1

ms=1/2 m=0

l=1 m=-1

m=1
ms=-1/2 m=0

m=-1

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 Total Angular Momentum
Classically, the total angular momentum is given by
  
J L S

which can have any value between L+S and |L-S|.

In quantum mechanics, the J operator should behave just like

other angular momentum operators, such as L and S,

J2 j ( j 1)h 2 , j l s or l s
Jz m j h, m j j , j 1,, j 1, j

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 Addition of Angular Momenta
In general, if J1 is one angular
momentum and J2 is is another,
the resulting total angular
momentum J= J1 + J2 has the
value

j ( j 1)h

for its magnitude, where j can

be any of the values,
j1+j2, j1+j2-1, …, |j1-j2|

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 Examples
1) Two electrons each has zero orbital angular momentum.

The total angular momentum is then j = s1 + s2, so j has two

possible values, j = ½ + ½ = 1 and j = ½ - ½ = 0.

2) An electron in an atom has orbital angular momentum L1, with

quantum number l1 = 2, and a second electron has orbital
angular momentum L2, with quantum number l2 = 3. What are
the possible quantum numbers for the total orbital angular
momentum?
L = L1 + L2 -> the maximum value allowed is l1 + l2 = 5, and
the minimum value allowed is | l1 – l2 |=1. Therefore, the
possible quantum numbers are 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
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