Published December 1, 2004 | Version v1
Journal article

Expanding Hermitian operators in a basis of projectors on coherent spin states

  • 1. Hull Mathematical Physics, Department of Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX (United Kingdom)

Description

The expectation values of a Hermitian operator A in (2s+1)2 specific coherent states of a spin are known to determine the operator unambiguously. As shown here, (almost) any other set of (2s+1)2 coherent state projectors also provide a basis for self-adjoint operators. This is proved by considering the determinant of the Gram matrix associated with the coherent state projectors as a Hamiltonian of a fictitious classical spin system. The result guarantees that (almost) any experimentally desirable choice of directions is appropriate for reconstructing the state of a quantum spin by means of a Stern-Gerlach apparatus

Availability note (English)

Available online at http://stacks.iop.org/1464-4266/6/489/job4_12_001.pdf or at the Web site for the Journal of Optics. B, Quantum and Semiclassical Optics (Print) (ISSN 1464-4266) http://www.iop.org/

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Optics. B, Quantum and Semiclassical Optics (Print)
Journal Volume
6
Journal Issue
12
Journal Page Range
p. 489-490
ISSN
1464-4266

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
36029314
Subject category
S74: ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS; S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS;
Descriptors DEI
ENERGY LEVELS; EXPECTATION VALUE; HAMILTONIANS; HERMITIAN OPERATORS; QUANTUM MECHANICS; SPIN; STERN-GERLACH EXPERIMENT
Descriptors DEC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; MATHEMATICAL OPERATORS; MECHANICS; PARTICLE PROPERTIES; QUANTUM OPERATORS