Damus
Fabian Transchel · 40w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqknzsux7p6lzwzdedp3m8c3c92z0swzc0xyy5glvse58txj5e9ztqaufa4k "For this reason, physicists love the 3-sphere." I only saw the first half of your to...
John Carlos Baez profile picture
@nprofile1q... - When I said "Surprisingly, there are three basic ways to 'rotate' a hydrogen atom" I was talking about the 3 commuting SU(2) actions whose generators are (L + M)/2, (L - M)/2 and S, where L is the orbital angular momentum, M is a version of the Runge-Lenz vector, and S is the spin angular momentum. Of course this isn't "surprising" to physicists - I'm sure Pauli knew it, since he knew about L and M in 1926 and his paper back then hinted at S, which he later discovered. But it seems painfully under-discussed in physics textbooks. And lot of mathematical work on the Kepler problem, which rejoices in the existence of M, ignores spin.
1
Fabian Transchel · 40w
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqknzsux7p6lzwzdedp3m8c3c92z0swzc0xyy5glvse58txj5e9ztqaufa4k "But these 3 commuting SU(2) representations seem painfully under-discussed in physics textbooks." I didn't really get that angle of your argument*. You're right about textbooks as I wa...