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dsr39
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I am reading the section in Griffiths' Quantum about adding spins together. It says if you have a particle of spin s1 and another of spin s2 then the possible composite spins are
s1+s2, s1+s2 -1, s1+s2-2, ... |s1-s2|
that rule (though not proven in this text) has seemed straight forward to me until now. I have a particle of spin 1/2 and a particle of spin 3/2, so I get
5/2, 3/2 ... but then the situation of them aligning antiparallel 3/2-1/2 = 1 does not occur as one of the integer steps, so do I include it as a possibility? It seems strange that the anti parallel arrangement should not be a possibility.
Thanks for the help
UPDATE:
3/2+1/2 = 2 not 2.5
One day I will figure out how to add those fractions together
s1+s2, s1+s2 -1, s1+s2-2, ... |s1-s2|
that rule (though not proven in this text) has seemed straight forward to me until now. I have a particle of spin 1/2 and a particle of spin 3/2, so I get
5/2, 3/2 ... but then the situation of them aligning antiparallel 3/2-1/2 = 1 does not occur as one of the integer steps, so do I include it as a possibility? It seems strange that the anti parallel arrangement should not be a possibility.
Thanks for the help
UPDATE:
3/2+1/2 = 2 not 2.5
One day I will figure out how to add those fractions together
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