Title: Calculating spherical harmonics without derivatives
Author(s):

	M. Weitzman (3515 E. Rochelle Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89121, USA) ,
	J.K. Freericks (Department of Physics, Georgetown University, 37th and O Sts. NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA)

The derivation of spherical harmonics is the same in nearly every quantum mechanics textbook and classroom. It is found to be difficult to follow, hard to understand, and challenging to reproduce by most students. In this work, we show how one can determine spherical harmonics in a more natural way based on operators and a powerful identity called the exponential disentangling operator identity (known in quantum optics, but little used elsewhere). This new strategy follows naturally after one has introduced Dirac notation, computed the angular momentum algebra, and determined the action of the angular momentum raising and lowering operators on the simultaneous angular momentum eigenstates (under and ).

Key words: angular momentum, spherical harmonics, operator methods
PACS: 01.40.gb, 02.20.Qs, 03.65.Fd, 31.15.-p

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