Clarification of susskind lectures

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The discussion centers on the clarification of concepts presented in Lecture 2 of the Susskind lectures regarding electron behavior in magnetic fields. It is established that when an electron is prepared in a magnetic field, it can either emit no photon or one photon, with the emitted photon's frequency corresponding to the energy radiated when the electron is in the "north-down" position. The terms "up" and "down" refer to the alignment of the electron's spin with the magnetic field, and the electron does not exhibit intermediate states between these two positions. The confusion arises from understanding how to determine the spin state of a single electron when no photon is emitted.

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In lecture 2,he states that when we prepare an electron and then apply a magnetic field,only 2 things can happen, no photon,or 1 photon. " if a photon is emitted,then its frequency corresponds to the amount of energy that would be radiated if the electron had been prepared in the <north-down> position." Now if the photon can have only 1 energy , how do we now for a single electron what up or down is? I'm confused .
 
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"Up" is the direction the magnetic field is pointing, "down" is the opposite direction, and the interesting (and somewhat confounding) thing is that the electron never acts as if it's in between the two.
 
Nugatory said:
"Up" is the direction the magnetic field is pointing, "down" is the opposite direction, and the interesting (and somewhat confounding) thing is that the electron never acts as if it's in between the two.
So you would say that when no photon is emitted that corresponds to an up spin?
 

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