WIGNER DISTRIBUTION OF A GENERAL ANGULAR-MOMENTUM STATE - APPLICATIONS TO A COLLECTION OF 2-LEVEL ATOMS

The general theory of quantum angular momentum is used to derive the unique Wigner distribution function for arbitrary angular-momentum states. We give the explicit distribution for atomic angular-momentum Dicke states, coherent states, and squeezed states that correspond to a collection of N two-level atoms. These Wigner functions W(theta,phi)) are represented as a pseudoprobability distribution in spherical phase space with spherical coordinates theta and phi on the surface of a sphere of radius HBAR square-root j(j + 1) where j is the total angular-momentum eigenvalue.