Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/paper-1/a1/a/iv/solution

The squared angular momentum operator and one selected component are commuting operators, so a complete set of common eigenfunctions can be chosen: for the component these are the usual angular momentum eigenstates. Distinct components do not have a common complete eigenbasis, because their commutator is another nonzero component. A state is an exception in which all components vanish; noncommutation does not forbid every individual common eigenfunction.

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