Twisted Spin in Quantum Mechanics

TL;DR

This paper introduces the concept of twisted spin in quantum mechanics, suggesting that spin may not always point in a fixed direction and proposing an experiment to verify this phenomenon.

Contribution

It presents the novel idea of twisted spin, challenging the traditional fixed-direction view, and suggests an experimental approach to observe this effect.

Findings

Twisted spin may occur naturally in quantum systems.

Some degree of spin twisting is likely generic.

An experiment is proposed to verify twisted spin.

Abstract

In quantum mechanics, it is often thought that the spin of an object points in a fixed direction at any point in time. For example, after selecting the z-direction as the axis of quantization, a spin-1/2 object (such as an electron) may either point up or down. The spin can also be a linear combination of these two states, in which case, there is an axis in another direction in which the spin points in that direction. In this article, we focus on the spin-spin-1/2 case and point out that spin may not necessarily point in a fixed direction, a phenomenon that we call twisted spin. We argue that twisted spin occurs in nature, that at least some degree of twisting is generic, and propose an experiment to verify its existence.