# Squeezed angular momentum coherent states : construction and time evolution*footnote **footnote *presented on ICSSUR ’99: 6th International Conference on Squeezed States and Uncertainty Relations, Napoli, 24-29 May 1999

## Abstract

A family of angular momentum coherent states on the sphere is constructed using previous work by Aragone et al . These states depend on a complex parameter which allows an arbitrary squeezing of the angular momentum uncertainties. The time evolution of these states is analyzed assuming a rigid body hamiltonian. The rich scenario of fractional revivals is exhibited with cloning and many interference effects.

In this contribution we will concentrate on a family of coherent states on the sphere which can be proposed for the description of the rotation of quantum simple systems like rigid diatomic molecules or rigid nuclei. The relevant hamiltonian depends then only on the angular momentum $`I`$ and the energy spectrum is expressed in terms of a frequency $`\omega _0`$ by $`E_I=\mathrm{}\omega _0I(I+1)`$. A general wave packet (WP) of the family depends on a parameter $`\eta `$ and of a real integer number $`k`$ and will be denoted as $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta k}(\theta ,\varphi )`$. The states with $`k`$ different from 0 are deduced from a parent state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta 0}`$ defined as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}}(\theta ,\varphi )=\sqrt{\frac{N}{2\pi \mathrm{sinh}2N}}e^{N\mathrm{sin}\theta (\mathrm{cos}\varphi +\text{i}\eta \mathrm{sin}\varphi )}$$
(1)   
For real $`\eta `$ the angular spread of the latter depends only on $`N`$ while the average value of $`L_z`$ is given by

$$L_z=\eta (N\mathrm{coth}(2N)\frac{1}{2})\stackrel{N1}{}\eta (N\frac{1}{2})$$
(2)   
The states with $`k0`$ are obtained from (1) by application on $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}}`$ of an operator $`(_+)^k`$. The operator $`_+`$ and two other ones which form an SU(2) algebra are defined by

$$_3=\frac{L_x+\text{i}\eta L_y}{\sqrt{1\eta ^2}},_\pm =\pm \left(\frac{\eta L_x+\text{i}L_y}{\sqrt{1\eta ^2}}\right)L_z$$
(3)   
Up to a normalization factor we have

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta k}(\theta ,\varphi )=(_+)^k\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}}(\theta ,\varphi )$$
(4)   
The states $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta k}`$ have the following properties:

1. They are eigenstates of $`_3`$

$$_3\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta k}=k\sqrt{1\eta ^2}\mathrm{\Psi }_{\eta k}$$
(5)
2. The parameter $`\eta =|\eta |\mathrm{exp}(\text{i}\alpha )`$ is a squeezing parameter since one has

$$|\eta |^2=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }L_x^2}{\mathrm{\Delta }L_y^2}$$
(6)
3. If $`\eta `$ is real the WP are minimum uncertainty states and in general we have

$$\mathrm{\Delta }L_x^2\mathrm{\Delta }L_y^2=\frac{1}{4}[L_z^2+|\{L_x,L_y\}L_xL_y|^2]=\frac{1}{4}\frac{L_z^2}{\mathrm{cos}^2\alpha }$$
(7)
4. Changing $`k`$ enable to change the average values of all the components of L.

There exist intensive analytical studies devoted to the eigenstates of $`L^2`$ and $`_3`$. When $`\eta `$ is real they are called intelligent spin states  and quasi intelligent spin states if $`\eta `$ is complex . These states extend the well known work of . Ref.  has discussed fully the use of the SU(2) algebra (3). Obviously our WP are not eigenstates of $`L^2`$ but can be expanded in such a basis of intelligent or quasi intelligent spin states with the freedom, by a convenient choice of N, to concentrate the WP on the sphere. More details on these WP can be found in our recent papers  and .

Let us now sketch briefly the dynamics which take place if one take these WP as initial WP at time zero and if we let them evolve assuming a rigid body spectrum. Here we rely fully on the work of Averbukh and Perelman . For times of the form $`t=(m/n)T_{\text{rev}}`$ $`(T_{\text{rev}}=2\pi /\omega _0)`$ the WP is subdivided into $`q`$ fractional WP ($`q=n`$ if $`n`$ is odd, $`q=n/2`$ if $`n`$ is even), the shape of these WP depends on the squeezing parameter $`\eta `$. By changing $`\eta `$ and $`k`$ one can modify the quantum angular spread and make it different for the variable $`\theta `$ and for the variable $`\varphi `$. For $`\eta =\pm 1`$ and for all $`m/n`$ the fractional WP are all clones of the initial one (upper part of Fig. 1 for $`m/n=1/3`$ and $`1/4`$). For different values their shape changes (we have called these WP mutants). These shapes are shown in the lower part of Fig. 1 and on Fig. 2.

The differences between real and imaginary $`\eta `$ are not very significant as shown in Fig. 2. Therefore there exist numerous possibilities for constructing angular coherent states using these intelligent and quasi intelligent spin states. Obviously the choice made in (1) of an exponential WP does not exhaust all possible ones. These remarks illustrate the richness of the rotation of a rigid body in quantum mechanics. The internal rotational degree of freedom (i.e. the use of $`D_{MK}^I`$ functions instead of $`Y_M^I`$) can be studied on a similar footing .

This work extends to the rigid rotor in three dimensions the revival mechanism discussed in  for the hydrogen atom. The cloning mechanism, valid in our case only for $`\eta =\pm 1`$, was already investigated in ref  for an infinite square well. A review of the evolution of localized WP is found in .

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