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soxymoron
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I'm not going to follow the form because this is more of a hand-wavy question, I don't need it for a specific homework question but it's confusing me, I hope it's still okay to post here.
I understand the splitting of energy levels due to j (dependant on l and s) and I understand that each of the split states contains multiple degenerate states. What I don't understand is where they come from.
For an example of l=1 the energy is split into a j=1/2 and a j=3/2 levels. I know 6 states in total are contain within this split 2:4. This is the bit I don't understand, I'm assuming that the degenerate states are caused by the quantum number m but if that's the case why aren't they split evenly 3 to each energy level?
Thanks for any help you can give me
I understand the splitting of energy levels due to j (dependant on l and s) and I understand that each of the split states contains multiple degenerate states. What I don't understand is where they come from.
For an example of l=1 the energy is split into a j=1/2 and a j=3/2 levels. I know 6 states in total are contain within this split 2:4. This is the bit I don't understand, I'm assuming that the degenerate states are caused by the quantum number m but if that's the case why aren't they split evenly 3 to each energy level?
Thanks for any help you can give me