- #1
kelly0303
- 561
- 33
Hello! This is probably a silly question (I am sure I am missing something basic), but I am not sure I understand how a Hamiltonian can be a scalar and allow transitions between states with different angular momentum at the same time. Electromagnetic induced transitions are usually represented as a perturbation to some free hamiltonian ##H'(t)##, which is a scalar. However when calculating the matrix element between 2 states ##<J_fM_f|H'|J_iM_i>## we can have non zero values even when ##J_f \neq J_i##. How is the fact that the hamiltonian is a scalar, consistent with the angular momentum conservation? Thank you!