Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/ib/paper-4/15d/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 4 15D a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Use and the canonical commutation relation. With ,Using these two transformation laws on givesThese are the orbital angular momentum commutation relations.
NowThe factor is antisymmetric in and its remaining product is symmetric after the two terms are combined, so the contraction vanishes:
The same commutators show that and are rotational scalars: their commutators with every vanish by contraction of the antisymmetric with a symmetric product. Therefore also commutes with every , and forwe have , henceIn particular are pairwise commuting Hermitian operators. By simultaneous diagonalization, they admit a common eigenbasis, subject to the usual spectral-domain qualifications for unbounded operators. This is the rotational invariance of a central-potential Hamiltonian.
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