Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-1/section-b/b9/solution
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 Section B B9 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Direct matrix multiplication givesThe normalized eigenvectors are , and the eigenvectors are , with eigenvalues in each case.
For , allowing for a possibly unnormalized input pair of coefficients,For a normalized state . The second result follows because each squared Spin operator matrix equals .
The tilted component is . Its eigenvalues remain , with one real phase convention for the normalized eigenvectorsProjecting the initial onto them gives and . ThusA smaller expectation does not imply a smaller individual spin eigenvalue; it describes the probabilities of the same two measurement outcomes.
Rotating the measurement axis changes spin-half outcome probabilities rather than the outcome magnitudes
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