2014•Physical Review LettersOpen access

Is the Angular Momentum of an Electron Conserved in a Uniform Magnetic Field?

Colin Greenshields, R. L. Stamps, Sonja Franke‐Arnold, Stephen M. Barnett

Abstract

We show that an electron moving in a uniform magnetic field possesses a time-varying "diamagnetic" angular momentum. Surprisingly this means that the kinetic angular momentum of the electron may vary with time, despite the rotational symmetry of the system. This apparent violation of angular momentum conservation is resolved by including the angular momentum of the surrounding fields.

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Key concepts: Angular momentum, Physics, Angular momentum coupling, Diamagnetism, Angular momentum operator, Angular momentum of light, Total angular momentum quantum number, Orbital angular momentum of light