9j symbol

9j symbols according to Eugene Wigner are used to couple four angular impulses in quantum mechanics .

Accordingly, the 9j symbol is defined as follows via the coupling coefficient:

${\displaystyle {\sqrt {(2j_{3}+1)(2j_{6}+1)(2j_{7}+1)(2j_{8}+1)}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}=\langle ((j_{1}j_{2})j_{3},(j_{4}j_{5})j_{6})j_{9}|((j_{1}j_{4})j_{7},(j_{2}j_{5})j_{8})j_{9}\rangle .}$

The Umkopplungskoeffizient on the right side transformed between two base sets: in a will to be coupled with to and then and to . In the other is to be coupled with to and then and to . ${\displaystyle j_{1}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{2}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{3}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{4}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{5}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{6}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{3}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{6}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{9}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{1}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{4}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{7}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{2}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{5}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{8}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{7}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{8}}$ ${\displaystyle j_{9}}$

${\displaystyle |((j_{1}j_{4})j_{7},(j_{2}j_{5})j_{8})j_{9}\rangle =\sum _{j_{3}}\sum _{j_{6}}\langle ((j_{1}j_{2})j_{3},(j_{4}j_{5})j_{6})j_{9}|((j_{1}j_{4})j_{7},(j_{2}j_{5})j_{8})j_{9}\rangle \,|((j_{1}j_{2})j_{3},(j_{4}j_{5})j_{6})j_{9}\rangle }$

${\displaystyle ={\sqrt {(2j_{7}+1)(2j_{8}+1)}}\,\sum _{j_{3}}\sum _{j_{6}}\,{\sqrt {(2j_{3}+1)(2j_{6}+1)}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}|((j_{1}j_{2})j_{3},(j_{4}j_{5})j_{6})j_{9}\rangle }$

Symmetries

The 9j symbol is invariant under reflection on its diagonals and with even permutation of the rows or columns:

${\displaystyle {\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}={\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{4}&j_{7}\\j_{2}&j_{5}&j_{8}\\j_{3}&j_{6}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}={\begin{Bmatrix}j_{9}&j_{6}&j_{3}\\j_{8}&j_{5}&j_{2}\\j_{7}&j_{4}&j_{1}\end{Bmatrix}}={\begin{Bmatrix}j_{7}&j_{4}&j_{1}\\j_{9}&j_{6}&j_{3}\\j_{8}&j_{5}&j_{2}\end{Bmatrix}}.}$

In the case of odd permutations of rows or columns, the phase factor is multiplied by . Example: ${\displaystyle (-1)^{S}}$ ${\displaystyle S=\sum _{i=1}^{9}j_{i}}$

${\displaystyle {\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}=(-1)^{S}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}=(-1)^{S}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{2}&j_{1}&j_{3}\\j_{5}&j_{4}&j_{6}\\j_{8}&j_{7}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}.}$

Attributed to 6j symbols

The 9j symbols can be expressed as sums over products of three 6j symbols :

${\displaystyle {\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}=\sum _{x}(-1)^{2x}(2x+1){\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{4}&j_{7}\\j_{8}&j_{9}&x\end{Bmatrix}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{2}&j_{5}&j_{8}\\j_{4}&x&j_{6}\end{Bmatrix}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{3}&j_{6}&j_{9}\\x&j_{1}&j_{2}\end{Bmatrix}}}$.

In doing so, a total is made of all those for which the triangle condition is fulfilled for the factors (see 3j symbol or 6j symbol ). ${\displaystyle x}$

Special case

A special case is if the 9j symbol is proportional to a 6j symbol:

${\displaystyle {\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&0\end{Bmatrix}}={\frac {\delta _{j_{3},j_{6}}\delta _{j_{7},j_{8}}}{\sqrt {(2j_{3}+1)(2j_{7}+1)}}}(-1)^{j_{2}+j_{3}+j_{4}+j_{7}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{5}&j_{4}&j_{7}\end{Bmatrix}}.}$

Orthogonality relation

The 9j symbols satisfy the orthogonality relation:

${\displaystyle \sum _{j_{7}j_{8}}(2j_{7}+1)(2j_{8}+1){\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}'\\j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}'\\j_{7}&j_{8}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}={\frac {\delta _{j_{3}j_{3}'}\delta _{j_{6}j_{6}'}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\end{Bmatrix}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{4}&j_{5}&j_{6}\end{Bmatrix}}{\begin{Bmatrix}j_{3}&j_{6}&j_{9}\end{Bmatrix}}}{(2j_{3}+1)(2j_{6}+1)}}.}$

The triangular delta is defined as with the 3j symbol and expresses compliance with the triangle condition. ${\displaystyle {\begin{Bmatrix}j_{1}&j_{2}&j_{3}\end{Bmatrix}}}$

literature

• Alan Robert Edmonds : Angular momentum in quantum mechanics, BI university pocket books 1964 (English original Princeton UP 1957)
• A. Messiah : Quantum Mechanics , Volume 2, De Gruyter 1985, Appendix C.

Web links

• Wigner 9j symbol , Mathworld