DemonstratingtheUncertaintyPrinicple

forAngularMomentumandAngularPosition
FrankRioux
DepartmentofChemistry
CollegeofSt.Benedict|St.JohnsUniversity
Theuncertaintyrelationbetweenangularmomentumandangularpositioncanbederivedfrom
themorefamiliaruncertaintyrelationbetweenlinearmomentumandposition.
p x

( 1)

Consideraparticlewithlinearmomentumpmovingonacircleofradiusr.Theparticlesangular
momentumisgivenbyequation(2).
L = m v r = p r

( 2)

Inmovingadistancexonthecircletheparticlesweepsoutanangleinradians.
=

x
r

( 3)

Equations(2)and(3)suggest,
p =

L
r

x = r

( 4)

Substitutionofequations(4)intoequation(1)yieldstheangularmomentum,angularposition
uncertaintyrelation.
L

h
4

( 5)

InadditiontotheHeisenbergrestrictionsrepresentedbyequations(1)and(5),conjugate
observablesarerelatedbyFouriertransforms.Forexample,forpositionandmomentumitis
givenbyequation(6)inatomicunits(h=2).

p x

1
exp ipx
2

( 6)

Equations(2)and(3)canbeusedwith(6)toobtaintheFouriertransformbetweenangular
momentumandangularposition.

1
exp iL
2

( 7)

Equations(6)and(7)aremathematicaldictionariestellingushowtotranslatefromxlanguageto
planguage,orlanguagetoLlanguage.Thecomplexconjugatesof(6)and(7)translateinthe
reversedirection,fromptoxandfromLto.
Theworkhorseparticleinabox(PIB)problemcanbeusedtoprovideacompellinggraphical
illustrationofthepositionmomentumuncertaintyrelation.Thepositionwavefunctionforthe
groundstateofaPIBinaboxoflengthaisgivenbelow.

2
x
sin

a
a

( 8)

TheconjugatemomentumspacewavefunctionisobtainedbythefollowingFouriertransform.

a
0

p x x dx

a
0

x
exp(ipx ) sin

( 9)

Evaluationoftheintegralinequation(9)yields,

( p a)

exp ( i p a) 1
2

( 10)

2 2

p a

Plottingthemomentumdistributionfunctionforseveralboxlengths,asisdoneinthefigure
below,clearlyrevealsthepositionmomentumuncertaintyrelation.Thegreatertheboxlength
thegreatertheuncertaintyinposition.However,asthefigureshows,thegreatertheboxlength
thenarrowerthemomentumdistribution,and,consequently,thesmallertheuncertaintyin
momentum.

Momentum Distributions for a = 1, 1.5, 2

( p 1)

( p 1.5)

( p 2)

10

0
p

10

Asimilarvisualizationoftheangularmomentum/angularpositionuncertaintyrelationisalso
possible.Supposeaparticleonaringispreparedinsuchawaythatitsangularwavefunctionis
representedbythefollowinggaussianfunction,

exp a 2

( 11)

wheretheparameteracontrolsthewidthoftheangulardistribution.Theconjugateangular
momentumwavefunctionisobtainedbythefollowingFouriertransform.

L d

1
2

exp iL exp a d

( 12)

Plotsof|<|>|2and|<L|>|2shownbelowfortwovaluesoftheparameteraillustratethe
angularmomentum/angularpositionuncertaintyrelation.Thelargerthevalueofa,thesmaller
theangularpositionaluncertaintyandthegreatertheangularmomentumuncertainty.Inother
words,thegreaterthevalueofathegreaterthenumberofangularmomentumeigenstates
observed.

a exp a

a 0.5

Angular Position

a 2

0.5

0.5

( L a) exp i L a d

L 5 5

Angular Momentum

( L a)

0
L

Maketheangularpositiondistributionnarrower:

a 2.5

Angular Position

a 2

0.5

0.5

Observeabroaderdistributioninangularmomentum.

Angular Momentum

( L a)

Theuncertaintyrelationbetweenangularpositionandangularmomentumasoutlinedaboveis
asimplifiedversionofthatpresentedbyS.FrankeArnoldetal.inNewJournalofPhysics6,103
(2004).