Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ib / Paper 3 / 16B / a

The orbital angular momentum operators areIn particular ${\hat{L}}_3=-i\hslash (x_1{\partial }_2-x_2{\partial }_1)$. For smooth compactly supported functions $\varphi ,\psi$, integration by parts produces no boundary term, and ${\partial }_2{x}_1={\partial }_1{x}_2=0$. HenceThis proves Hermiticity on the common test-function domain, and the same calculation applies on suitable decaying domains. As an unbounded operator, it is not defined on every $L^2$ function: the usual self-adjoint operator realization is the generator of unitary rotations about the third axis. Thus the integration statement includes its necessary domain/boundary assumptions.