Why a particle with spin=0 can't posses a magnetic dipole moment?

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
17 replies · 4K views
happyparticle
Messages
490
Reaction score
24
Homework Statement
Why a particle with spin=0 can't posses a dipole moment?
Relevant Equations
##\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}##
Hi,
I would like to know why a particle with spin=0 can't posses a magnetic dipole moment?

Using Wigner-Eckart theorem for ##\langle j,1,m,0|j,m \rangle## I get ##\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}##

It seems like the right hand side is the magnetic dipole moment. Thus, j must be 0 for a particle with spin =0.

However, I'm not so sure to understand what j means.
I'll try to explain what I understand.
##\vec{J}## is the total angular momentum and ##\vec{J} = \vec{L} + \vec{S}##, where ##\vec{S}## is the spin.
Furthermore, we have 2 systems (2 particles) ##\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}##
where ##j_1 = j, j_2 = 1 , m_1 = m, m_2 =0## and ##j = j_1 + j_2, m = m_1 + m_2##

Are ##j_1, j_2## the total angular momentums for each particle and what exactly are ## m_1, m_2##? Are they quantum number ##m_s## ?

If the spin of the particle is null then ##\vec{S} = 0## which mean ##\vec{J} = \vec{L}##

This is all I know. I can't show that j=0.

I hope this is clear...

thank you
 
Physics news on Phys.org
happyparticle said:
Homework Statement:: Why a particle with spin=0 can't posses a dipole moment?
Relevant Equations:: ##\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}##

Hi,
I would like to know why a particle with spin=0 can't posses a magnetic dipole moment?

Using Wigner-Eckart theorem for ##\langle j,1,m,0|j,m \rangle## I get ##\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}##

It seems like the right hand side is the magnetic dipole moment. Thus, j must be 0 for a particle with spin =0.

However, I'm not so sure to understand what j means.
I'll try to explain what I understand.
##\vec{J}## is the total angular momentum and ##\vec{J} = \vec{L} + \vec{S}##, where ##\vec{S}## is the spin.
Furthermore, we have 2 systems (2 particles) ##\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}##
where ##j_1 = j, j_2 = 1 , m_1 = m, m_2 =0## and ##j = j_1 + j_2, m = m_1 + m_2##

Are ##j_1, j_2## the total angular momentums for each particle and what exactly are ## m_1, m_2##? Are they quantum number ##m_s## ?

If the spin of the particle is null then ##\vec{S} = 0## which mean ##\vec{J} = \vec{L}##

This is all I know. I can't show that j=0.

I hope this is clear...

thank you
Who told you that a spin 0 particle could not have a magnetic moment? It cannot have a spin magnetic moment (intrinsic magnetic moment) but, as you showed above, it can have an orbital magnetic moment.

-Dan
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: hutchphd, happyparticle, PeroK and 2 others
Why exactly it cannot have a spin magnetic moment?

Can I show it from ##
\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}
## ?
 
happyparticle said:
Why exactly it cannot have a spin magnetic moment?

Can I show it from ##
\langle j'|| \vec{J}|| j \rangle = \hbar \sqrt{j(j+1)} \delta_{jj'}
## ?
Because s = 0...

-Dan
 
I mean, is it a relationship between s and j ?
 
happyparticle said:
I mean, is it a relationship between s and j ?
## j = l + s##
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: happyparticle and topsquark
happyparticle said:
I mean, is it a relationship between s and j ?
The spin magnetic moment of a particle is given by
##\boldsymbol{ \mu } = g \dfrac{e}{2 m} \textbf{S}##

If s = 0 then ##\boldsymbol{ \mu } \mid \psi \rangle = g \dfrac{e}{2 m} \textbf{S} \mid \psi \rangle = \textbf{0} \mid \psi \rangle##

-Dan
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: happyparticle and DrClaude
Ah I see. I thought that S was the eigenvector and the eigenvalue wasn't necessarily s. thus if s=0 then S wasn't necessarily 0. I think that as usual I had misunderstood.
Thank you
 
happyparticle said:
Ah I see. I thought that S was the eigenvector and the eigenvalue wasn't necessarily s. thus if s=0 then S wasn't necessarily 0. I think that as usual I had misunderstood.
Thank you
I can't make any sense of this. Are you sure you understand the concepts of operators, eigenvectors and eigenvalues.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: malawi_glenn
happyparticle said:
I mean, is it a relationship between s and j ?
You wrote it in the original post
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: topsquark
malawi_glenn said:
You wrote it in the original post
I was replying to topsquark. I meant if s = 0 why j is automatically 0, that kind of relation.
 
happyparticle said:
I was replying to topsquark. I meant if s = 0 why j is automatically 0, that kind of relation.
I never said j = 0 because s = 0. j = l + s. If s = 0 then j = l. If l is not zero then the state has an angular magnetic moment, just not a spin angular magnetic moment. Only if j = 0 does the state have no angular magnetic moment.

-Dan
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Greg Bernhardt and malawi_glenn
happyparticle said:
I would like to know why a particle with spin=0 can't posses a magnetic dipole moment?
When I first saw this question, I thought it was about a free particle with zero spin. Then @happyparticle brought in the Wigner-Eckart theorem stated talking about orbital angular momentum. Orbital angular momentum presupposes a nucleus which the supposedly zero-spin particle must be orbiting. ##\mathbf{S}## as in ##\mathbf{J}=\mathbf{L}+\mathbf{S}## is the total spin in a many-electron atom and ##\mathbf{S}=0## has nothing to do with a particle with spin = 0 in the original question.

I think the simplest answer to the original question is that spin is an intrinsic property of particles and so is the magnetic moment associated with the spin of the particle. Asking why a particle with zero spin has no magnetic moment is like asking why a bald man has no hair on his head.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Haha
Likes   Reactions: hutchphd, gurbir_s, topsquark and 1 other person
Tell me. If S=0, in what direction does the magnetic moment point?
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: topsquark
Vanadium 50 said:
Tell me. If S=0, in what direction does the magnetic moment point?
If a man is bald, what color is his hair?
 
  • Haha
Likes   Reactions: malawi_glenn
Something is fishy here. Let's lock the thread for a while until the smell dissipates....
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: phinds, kuruman and topsquark