[Physics] Why is only one quantity of angular momentum i.e. $L_z$ quantized & not $L_x$ & $L_y$

angular momentumhilbert-spaceobservablesoperatorsquantum mechanics

This is quoted from Arthur Beiser's Concepts of Modern Physics:

Why is only one quantity of $\mathbf{L}$ quantized? The answer is related to the fact that $\mathbf{L}$ can never point in any specific direction but instead is somewhere on a cone in space such that $L_z$ is $m_l\hbar$. Were this not so, the uncertainty principle would be violated. If $\mathbf{L}$ were fixed in space, so that $L_x,L_y$ as well as $L_z$ had definite values, the electron would be confined to a definite plane, say in the $xy$ plane all the time. This can occur only if the electron's momentum component $p_z$ in the $z$ direction is infinitely uncertain, which of course is impossible if it is to be a part of hydrogen atom.

However, since in reality only one component of $L_z$ of $\mathbf{L}$ together with its magnitude $L$ have definite values & $|L| > |L_z|$, the electron is limited to have a single plane. Thus there is a built-in uncertainty in the electron's $z$ coordinate. The direction of $\mathbf{L}$ is not fixed, & so on the average, $L_x$ & $L_y$ are are $0$, although $l_z$ always has the specified value $m_l\hbar$.

  1. How does the $z$ component of momentum becomes infinitely uncertain if the electron lies in $xy$ plane? How does it lead to the impossibility of its presence in the hydrogen atom?

  2. Can anyone explain me the second paragraph of the above quote? What is it saying?

  3. Why is the average of $L_x, L_y$ is zero but $L_z$ is always $m_l\hbar$?

Best Answer

  1. If the electron is confined to the $x-y$-plane, it's $z$-position is fixed, i.e. certain, and hence the $z$-momentum infinitely uncertain by the uncertainty relation.

  2. That paragraph is trying to say that, if the magnitude of $\vec L$ is larger than $L_z$, then $\vec L$ is not fixed, and if angular momentum is not fixed, i.e. conserved, then the motion does not lie in a plane (perpendicular to it). This is a classical argument that is completely beside the point of quantum mechanics. The paragraph is completely non-sensical from a quantum mechanics view-point since it seems to treat $\vec L$ as some vector in space when only one of its three components even take definite values at the same time. (That there are other sources taking this approach does not make it less non-sensical, before anyone asks)

  3. For an eigenstate of the operator $L_z$, one may always ask what the expectation values of $L_x$ and $L_y$ on it are. It follows from the uncertainty principle that the expectation values of $L_x$ and $L_z$ on an eigenstate of $L_z$ must vanish, since we have the three relations $$ \sigma_x \sigma_y \ge \frac{\hbar}{2} \lvert \langle L_z \rangle \rvert $$ $$ \sigma_z \sigma_x \ge \frac{\hbar}{2}\lvert \langle L_y \rangle \rvert $$ $$ \sigma_y \sigma_z \ge \frac{\hbar}{2}\lvert \langle L_x \rangle \rvert $$ for $\sigma_i$ the standard deviation of $L_i$. Now, in an eigenstate of $L_z$, $\sigma_z = 0$, so the absolute values of the averages of $L_x$ and $L_y$ are bounded by $0$ (given that $\sigma_i$ is always finite), and hence must be zero themselves.