In Sakurai's Modern quantum mechanics it is said that the rotation matrix in three dimensions that c

Dwllane4

Dwllane4

Answered question

2022-06-16

In Sakurai's Modern quantum mechanics it is said that the rotation matrix in three dimensions that changes one set of unit basis vectors ( x , y , z ) into another set ( x , y , z ) can be written as
[ x x x y x z y x y y y z z x z y z z ]
But shouldn't it be the transpose of matrix given above as the transformation matrix is given by coordinates of transformations of bases ?

Answer & Explanation

benedictazk

benedictazk

Beginner2022-06-17Added 22 answers

The given matrix is correct.
What we want is the matrix of the identity map but in a different basis. (We are not changing the vectors, we are just changing the basis).
The way we get this matrix is we write the images of basis vectors x , y , z and look at their coordinates in the basis x , y , x .
The coordinates of x become the first column the coordinates of y the second and so on.
The way to determine these coordinates is to take the inner product.
And thus we get the matrix given.

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