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I am trying to understand a system involving two particles both with spin-1/2. The particles are In an electric field and hence we can write a Hamiltonian in the following form

$\hat{H_0}=\frac{g\mu B}{\hbar}(\hat{S_{1z}}+\hat{S_{2z}}) \tag{1}$

eigenvalues of $\hat{S_{1z}}$ and $\hat{S_{2z}}$ are $\hbar m_1$ and $\hbar m_2$ respectively I've seen similar systems to mine elsewhere however and this may be a small query, but none the less a query I don't have the answer to. I keep seeing mentions of the "basis of states" and it appears to be labeled $|m_1m_2\rangle$. Can someone explain why this is true? if this is true how can I show the $|m_1m_2\rangle$ states are eigenstates of the Hamiltonian $\hat{H_0}$? and if they are in fact eigenstates how do I then use this information to find the energy eigenvalues?

Am I correct in thinking these eigenvalues can be written as $E^{0}_{m_1m_2}$?

Sam
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  • Some details therein :Total spin of two spin-1/2particles ( https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/342123/total-spin-of-two-spin-1-2-particles/342156#342156 ) may be sufficient, but not necessary, to understand how to build the system of the two particles from the individual ones. – Frobenius Aug 18 '17 at 21:06

2 Answers2

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The notation $\vert m_1 m_2\rangle$ is a shorthand for $\vert m_1\rangle\vert m_2\rangle$, where $\vert m_1\rangle$ is a ket for the first spin alone, and $\vert m_2\rangle$ is a ket for the second spin alone.

Now the states of your first system are $\vert m_1\rangle$, and the states of your second systems are $\vert m_2\rangle$. For every fixed state $\vert \bar{m}_1\rangle$ your second system can be in any state $\vert m_2\rangle$. Thus, the possible states of your combined system are of the form $\vert m_1\rangle\vert m_2\rangle$.

Note that, in your Hamiltonian, $S_{1z}$ acts only on $\vert m_1\rangle$ and $S_{2z}$ only on $\vert m_2\rangle$, and $\vert m_1\rangle$ and $\vert m_2\rangle$ are assumed to be eigenkets of $S_{1z}$ and $S_{2z}$ respectively.

Thus: $$ S_{1z}\vert m_1m_2\rangle=\Bigl(S_{1z}\vert m_1\rangle\Bigr)\vert m_2\rangle = \hbar m_1 \vert m_1\rangle\vert m_2\rangle=\hbar m_1 \vert m_1m_2\rangle\, , $$ and simlarly $S_{2z}\vert m_1 m_2\rangle=\hbar m_2\vert m_1m_2\rangle$ so that $$ \left(S_{1z}+S_{2z}\right)\vert m_1m_2\rangle= S_{1z}\vert m_1m_2\rangle + S_{2z}\vert m_1m_2\rangle= \hbar(m_1+m_2)\vert m_1m_2\rangle $$

You can appreciate how the product form of basis states arises by analogy with the usual method of separation of variables: if you have a partial differential equation of the form - say - $$ \left(\frac{\partial}{\partial x}+2\frac{\partial}{\partial y}\right)F(x,y)=F(x,y), $$ you would naturally seek solutions in the product form $F(x,y)=X(x)Y(y)$, so that $\partial/\partial x$ acts only on $X(x)$ and $\partial/\partial y$ acts only on $Y(y)$. The solution you can find using $F(x,y)=e^{\lambda_1 x}e^{\lambda_2 y}$. Then \begin{align} \frac{\partial}{\partial x}e^{\lambda_1 x}=\lambda_1e^{\lambda_1 x} ,\\ \frac{\partial}{\partial y}e^{\lambda_2 y}=\lambda_2e^{\lambda_2 y} \end{align} so that $$ \left(\frac{\partial}{\partial x}+2\frac{\partial}{\partial y}\right) X(x)Y(y)=(\lambda_1+2\lambda_2)X(x)Y(y)= X(x)Y(y) $$ from which you see that the sum $\lambda_1+2\lambda_2$ should be $1$. As you can see, although the solution is a product of functions, the eigenvalue is the sum of individual eigenvalues.

In your system, the Hamiltonian is a sum of Hamitonians $S_{1z}$ and $S_{2z}$, each acting on its part of the state, and the total eigenvalue is the sum of the individual $\hbar m_1$ and $\hbar m_2$ eigenvalues.

ZeroTheHero
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You find the average energy of a state via:

$\langle m_1m_2|H|m_1m_2\rangle$,

which for an eigenstate simplifies to:

$H|m_1m_2\rangle=E|m_1 m_2\rangle$.

Per @ZeroTheHero, you know how $H$ acts on $|m_1m_2\rangle$; there are only 4 states for $||m_i|| = 1/2$. Write each state down and apply the Hamiltonian operator to them.

JEB
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