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- TL;DR Summary
- Relationship between photon spin and polarisation.
In Griffiths Elementary Particles (2nd, revised edition) there is a footnote on page 241, which states that the photon states with ##m_s = \pm 1## are related to the polarization vector by:
$$\epsilon_+ = \frac 1 {\sqrt 2} (-1, -i, 0) \ \text{and} \ \epsilon_- = \frac 1 {\sqrt 2} (1, -i, 0)$$
But, he doesn't give any justification for this. How do we relate these spatial polarisation vectors to eigenstates of the relevant angular momentum or helicity operator?
$$\epsilon_+ = \frac 1 {\sqrt 2} (-1, -i, 0) \ \text{and} \ \epsilon_- = \frac 1 {\sqrt 2} (1, -i, 0)$$
But, he doesn't give any justification for this. How do we relate these spatial polarisation vectors to eigenstates of the relevant angular momentum or helicity operator?
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