ABSTRACT

This chapter covers various aspects of orbital, total, and spin angular momenta and the Clebsch-Gordon coefficients. An approach that is not found in many books, is used to derive eigenvalues of orbital angular momentum. The Pauli theory of spin half systems, addition of angular momenta, eigenfunctions of orbital angular momentum, computation of Clebsch-Gordon coefficients, solved examples, and unsolved exercises are included in the chapter. The basic purpose of the chapter has been to bring out the quantum mechanical importance of the theory of angular momenta with the use of essential mathematical derivations, which are self-consistent, and to adopt an elegant modern approach. Special mention on why orbital angular momentum cannot have non-integer values is made. The concept of spin angular momentum, which is purely a quantum mechanical quantity, is introduced in a simple and most convincing manner.