Past exam of the theoretical physics II course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / Paper 1 / 1 / d

For general spin $S$, use dimensionless generators $S^j$ obeying $[S^i,S^j]=i{ϵ}_{ijk}{S}^k$. The two exponentials represent the same group elements as for spin $1/2$, now in the $(2S+1)$-dimensional representation of $SU(2)$. A representation preserves products, sowith exactly the same axis and angle found in (c); after $N$ periods the angle is $N\vartheta$. One must not substitute higher-spin matrices into the two-term Pauli exponential in (b), which used a property special to spin $1/2$.

The dimension and action on spin states change, but the spin-independent axis-angle composition does not. In particular,Integer-spin states return with positive sign and half-integer-spin states with negative sign. spin expectation vectors transform as spatial vectors in either case, while a general higher-spin state also carries higher multipole information.