Wigner D-matrix

The Wigner D-matrix (also known as the Wigner rotation matrix) is a square matrix, of dimension Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 2j+1} , given by (Ref. 2 Eq. 4.12)

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle D^j_{m'm}(\alpha,\beta,\gamma) := \langle jm' | \mathcal{R}(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)| jm \rangle = e^{-im'\alpha } d^j_{m'm}(\beta)e^{-i m\gamma} }

where Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \alpha, \; \beta, } and Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \gamma\;} are Euler angles, and where Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle d^j_{m'm}(\beta)} , known as Wigner's reduced d-matrix, is given by (Ref. 2 Eq. 4.11 and 4.13)

${\begin{array}{lcl}d_{m'm}^{j}(\beta )&=&D_{m'm}^{j}(0,\beta ,0)\\&=&\langle jm'|e^{-i\beta j_{y}}|jm\rangle \\&=&[(j+m)!(j-m)!(j+m')!(j-m')!]^{1/2}\sum _{\chi }{\frac {(-1)^{\chi }}{(j-m'-\chi )!(j+m-\chi )!(\chi +m'-m)!\chi !}}\\&&\times \left(\cos {\frac {\beta }{2}}\right)^{2j+m-m'-2\chi }\left(-\sin {\frac {\beta }{2}}\right)^{m'-m+2\chi }\end{array}}$

This represents a rotation of Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \beta} about the (inital frame) Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle Y} axis.

Relation with spherical harmonic functions

The D-matrix elements with second index equal to zero, are proportional to spherical harmonics (normalized to unity)

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle D^{\ell}_{m 0}(\alpha,\beta,\gamma)^* = \sqrt{\frac{4\pi}{2\ell+1}} Y_{\ell}^m (\beta, \alpha )}

External links

• Wigner D-matrix page on Wikipedia

References

1. Eugene Paul Wigner "Gruppentheorie und ihre Anwendungen auf die Quantenmechanik der Atomspektren", Vieweg Verlag, Braunschweig (1931).
2. M. E. Rose "Elementary theory of angular momentum", John Wiley & Sons (1967)
3. Miguel A. Blanco, M. Flórez and M. Bermejo "Evaluation of the rotation matrices in the basis of real spherical harmonics", Journal of Molecular Structure: THEOCHEM 419 pp. 19-27 (1997)
4. Holger Dachsel "Fast and accurate determination of the Wigner rotation matrices in the fast multipole method", Journal of Chemical Physics 124 144115 (2006)