Spin-orbit energy shift in a central potential ($\Delta E={\hslash }^2[j(j+1)-l(l+1)-s(s+1)]⟨r^{-1}{V}^{\prime }(r)⟩/(4m^2{c}^2)$)

For a central-potential Hamiltonian operator with the spin-orbit interaction $H_{\mathrm{so}}=[r^{-1}{V}^{\prime }(r)/(2m^2{c}^2)]\mathbf{L}\cdot \mathbf{S}$, use $\mathbf{J}=\mathbf{L}+\mathbf{S}$ andA coupled angular momentum eigenstate makes this angular factor a number. The radial operator commutes with all angular factors, giving the energy shift in the title. It is independent of the magnetic projection $m_j$, so a fixed-$j$ multiplet retains its $2j+1$ degeneracy.

For spin one-half, the angular bracket is $l$ when $j=l+1/2$ and $-(l+1)$ when $j=l-1/2$. Only the former exists at $l=0$, where it is zero. For the Coulomb potential energy, $r^{-1}{V}^{\prime }(r)=e^2/(4\pi {ϵ}_0{r}^3)$; the radial normalization convention must be respected when computing its expectation value.

For an isotropic three-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator, $V(r)=m{\omega }^2{r}^2/2$ makes $r^{-1}{V}^{\prime }(r)=m{\omega }^2$. The spin-orbit energy shift in a central potential is therefore independent of the radial excitation. For spin one-half, the $l=0,j=1/2$ shift is zero, while the two $l=1$ shifts are $-{\hslash }^2{\omega }^2/(2m{c}^2)$ for $j=1/2$ and $+{\hslash }^2{\omega }^2/(4m{c}^2)$ for $j=3/2$.

These shifts are quadratic in trap frequency. Their degeneracy-weighted sum in the $l=1$ manifold is zero, since the multiplicities are two and four. They are perturbative corrections rather than full oscillator energies; a nonrelativistic treatment requires them to be small compared with the orbital spacings.