Radial part of wave function in respect to spherical harmonic

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a wavefunction expressed in Cartesian coordinates, which the original poster attempts to rewrite in spherical coordinates for the purpose of calculating expectation values of angular momentum operators. The subject area is quantum mechanics, specifically focusing on wavefunctions and angular momentum.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster questions whether it is appropriate to ignore the radial part of the wavefunction when normalizing for angular momentum calculations. They express concern about the implications of the radial component, particularly the presence of r squared in the equations.

Discussion Status

Some participants assert that the radial functions cannot be neglected, indicating that the normalization of the wavefunction must include the radial part. There is a suggestion that the original poster needs to clarify their next steps in relation to the radial component.

Contextual Notes

There is an indication that the original poster may have overlooked an exponential factor in their transformation to spherical coordinates, which could affect the normalization process.

Zaknife
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Homework Statement


Consider a Wavefunction:
\psi(x,y,z)=K(x+y+x^2-y^2)e^{-r/a}
Find expectation value of L^{2} , L_{z}^{2}, L_{x}^{2}.

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution


The first step would be a rewriting a wavefunction in terms of spherical coordinates:
\psi=Kr(\cos\phi \sin \theta + 2 \sin \phi \cos \theta +r(\cos^{2} \phi \sin^{2} \theta - \sin^{2} \phi \sin^{2} \theta ))

My Question is : is it fair to skip the radial part and just forget about it. Normalize the Wavefunction for just the angular part , and then consider a mean values of Angular Momentum Operators ? Or should i normalize the wavefunction including r ? It bothers me because of the r squared in the equation.
 
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You can't neglect the radial functions.
 
Just to make it clear - i need to do all next steps with the radial part ?
 
It depends what your next steps are. You eventually need to normalize the wave function, so you need to take into account the radial function somewhere along the way.

By the way, you seem to have dropped the exponential factor when you rewrote the function in terms of spherical coordinates.
 

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