[Physics] Wave function of hydrogen atom including spin of nucleus

hydrogenquantum mechanicswavefunction

How do I write the wave function of hydrogen atom taking into consideration of nucleus spin? For example consider $2S_{\frac{1}{2}}$ state with nucleus spin $I$, then wave function $\psi=\langle2S_{\frac{1}{2}},F,F_{3}|$ where $F$ is the total angular momentum of hydrogen atom $F=J+I$ and $F_{3}$ is the projection of it along z axis. Now what will be the explicit form of the wave function? Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

The easy way

If we do not take into account the dependence of the electron state on the spin state of the nucleus, the wavefunction is just a product of electron and nucleus wavefunctions: $$ \psi = \psi_e(\mathbf{r} - \mathbf{R}) \psi_n(\mathbf{R}) $$ Both are spinors of rank 1 (columns of functions). The spinor $\psi_e$ consists of two components. The number of the components of $\psi_n$ depends on the total spin of the nucleus $I$ and is equal to $2I+1$.

The hard way

If the spin of the nucleus affects the electron state, then the total wavefunction is a spinor of rank 2 i.e. a table of functions with dimensions $2 \times (2I+1)$.

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