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Expectation values and non-commuting operators

Authors: F. Nogueira, F. D. dos Aidos, M. H. Caldeira and J. M. Domingos

Ref.: European Journal of Physics 13, 284-285 (1992)

Abstract: We discuss, for a product of several operators and in relation to commutativity, the requirements for the establishment of meaningful expectation values. A published example relating to the product of spin operators, where not all pairs commute, is critically examined on the basis of the strict properties of the Pauli operators.