Hilbert Space: Understanding and Exploring the Mathematical Concept

In summary, a Hilbert space is a completely pre-defined mathematical structure that is used to store information about vectors. It can be viewed as a complete space, and all vectors within it have a corresponding dot product. Additionally, there are generalizations of this structure with higher dimensions.
  • #1
bhanukiran
5
0
hilbert space??

hai,
what is hilbert space ?any important links known to you regarding that?please send some links .
 
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  • #2
A Hilbert space is a complete preHilbert space...

I can't fill u in will links,because i don't like learning mathematics on the internet... :grumpy:

Daniel.
 
  • #3
Or a hilbert space is a complete innerproduct space. All words defined by googling for them plus wolfram, or mathworld
 
  • #4
a finite dimensional hilbert space is just R^n, whose points are finite sequences of numbers of length n, equipped with the usual dot product. Notice each vector has finite length, e.g. the squared length of (x,y) is x^2 + y^2.

a typical infinite dimensional hilbert space has as points certain infinite sequences of real numbers (x1,x2,...) but we want a dot product here too, so we set the squared length equal to the infinite sum x1^2 + x2^2 +...

of course here this infinite sequence may not have a finite sum. so we restrict attention to those sequences which do have a finite squared length. this subset of the space of all infinite sequences is a (separable) hilbert space.

so in an infinite dimensional euclidean space, most points have infinite distance from the roign, so we consider only those at finite distance from the origin. that's hilbert space.

there are then generalizations with higher (infinite) dimension as well, whose length is defined by some integral being finite.

e.g. take all functions on the unit interval whose square has finite integral. or all functions on the real line with that proeprty.


now that i reread matt's definit0on, of cousare the abstarct evrsion is that there is adot product,. hence defining a distance, and we require all cauchy sequences in this distance to converge. i hope my examples do this, i believe they do.
 
  • #5
bhanukiran said:
hai,
what is hilbert space ?any important links known to you regarding that?please send some links .

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/HilbertSpace.html
it's got some finite-dimensional & infinite-dimensional examples
 
  • #6
hello?? I already laid out those examples in considerably more detail than wolfram does.
 

1. What is a Hilbert space?

A Hilbert space is a mathematical concept that represents an infinite-dimensional vector space, which is complete and equipped with an inner product operation. It is named after the German mathematician David Hilbert and is used in many areas of mathematics and physics, including quantum mechanics and functional analysis.

2. How is a Hilbert space different from other vector spaces?

A Hilbert space is different from other vector spaces because it is infinite-dimensional and complete. This means that it contains an infinite number of elements and all Cauchy sequences within the space converge to a unique limit. Additionally, a Hilbert space has an inner product operation that allows for the calculation of angles and distances between vectors.

3. What are some examples of Hilbert spaces?

Some examples of Hilbert spaces include the space of square-integrable functions, the space of continuous functions on a compact interval, and the space of square-summable sequences. In general, any space that satisfies the properties of an inner product operation and completeness can be considered a Hilbert space.

4. How is a Hilbert space used in quantum mechanics?

In quantum mechanics, a Hilbert space is used to describe the state of a quantum system. The vectors in the Hilbert space represent the possible states of the system, and the inner product operation is used to calculate probabilities and expectation values of observables. This allows for the mathematical description of phenomena such as superposition and entanglement.

5. What is the importance of Hilbert spaces in mathematics?

Hilbert spaces are important in mathematics because they provide a framework for studying infinite-dimensional vector spaces. They have applications in various fields, including functional analysis, partial differential equations, and signal processing. Additionally, the properties of Hilbert spaces make them useful for solving many problems in physics and engineering.

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