- #1
dipole
- 555
- 151
In my QM textbook, there's an equation written as:
[itex] \vec{J} = \vec{L}\otimes\vec{1} + \vec{S}\otimes\vec{1} [/itex]
referring to angular momentum operators (where [itex]\vec{1} [/itex] is the identity operator). I don't really understand what the outer product (which I'm assuming is what the symbol [itex]\otimes[/itex] means here) means when dealing with operators (which can be represented as matrices).
What happens when you outerproduct one operator with another? Unfortunately there is no explanation in the text, I guess it's assumed this is obvious or that the reader knows about this kind of math. :\
[itex] \vec{J} = \vec{L}\otimes\vec{1} + \vec{S}\otimes\vec{1} [/itex]
referring to angular momentum operators (where [itex]\vec{1} [/itex] is the identity operator). I don't really understand what the outer product (which I'm assuming is what the symbol [itex]\otimes[/itex] means here) means when dealing with operators (which can be represented as matrices).
What happens when you outerproduct one operator with another? Unfortunately there is no explanation in the text, I guess it's assumed this is obvious or that the reader knows about this kind of math. :\