I have often read about the fact that angular momentum vector is a pseudo vector, that is, an axial vector. According to what I remember pseudo vectors are those vectors that do not change their sign upon reflection. So if I have two vectors $\mathbf r$ and $\mathbf {\omega}$, these two vectors would gain a negative sign upon reflection and then a cross product of them will give me $\mathbf L$ and this will be a pseudo vector. Am I correct?
1 Answer
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Under inversion momentum and position will change signs as you said and angular momentum vector $L=r\times p$ will be written as
$$L=(-1)^2r \times p$$
so it's a pseudovector but triple vector product will be a polar vector as you can verify easily $A=B\times (C\times D) \hspace{2mm},\hspace{2mm} -A=(-1)^3 B\times (C\times D)$.
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$\begingroup$ So the initial and final vector $L$ are the same vectors under inversion, correct? $\endgroup$– RuchiCommented Jan 24, 2021 at 11:49
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