Recent content by seek

I just wanted to thank the both of you for your very helpful input. I've been a little busy, so I haven't had the time that I wanted to really go over your information. I'll be sure to do so though. Thank you :)

Homework Statement This isn't a homework problem, just something I've been trying to conceptualize for a while. Can anyone exemplify with a physical analog the concept of eigenstates? For example, I know that eigenvalues of variables with continuous spectra do not exist in the physical...

It doesn't help either that we have no textbook for the course. I have found absolutely no online resource to help with this question. Sometimes I think this guy just created his own physics.

Well, glad to know I'm not the only one confused by this problem. It's word for word what my teacher assigned. The last part doesn't make sense to me, what's the point of A? I understand the concept of projection operators acting as measurements, so to find the values of the a's I originally...

Just to be sure, am I still not phrasing this right, or is nobody quite sure about the answer? I want to be cooperative, so please tell me if I need to be posting more information or anything, thanks.

OK sorry for the confusion. Clearly I don't understand the problem well enough myself. Here it is: Suppose a physical observable takes on three values: a(1),a(2),and a(3). Further suppose that the matrices of the measurement operators for the three values are: M(a(1))= 1/14( 1 2 3...

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I don't need to know how to procedurally find eigenstates, I just want to know how to determine the actual values of the a's given the matrices of the projection operators on a. If I'm asking it the wrong way, I could just try writing the problem down verbatim.

Homework Statement OK, so assuming we have a physical observable with three values, a(1),a(2) and a(3), and there are given matrices for the measurement operators M(a(1))...M(a(3)). How does one actually go about finding a(1),a(2) and a(3) given the matrices?The Attempt at a Solution These...

Homework Statement Find a unitary transformation that diagonalizes the matrix: 1 1 1 -3 1 1 1 -3 1 1 1 -3 -3 -3 -3 -9 Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution So before I even start with finding the eigenvalues for this, I know there has to be...

My oversight is to my pride as a cold slap to the visage. Thanks so much for the help, maybe next time I'll be able to use the skills I learned in 5th grade.

Homework Statement Show that if an operator A satisfies A2 - A + I = 0 then A has an inverse. Express A-1 as a simple polynomial of A. Homework Equations I'm not sure that this is relevant, but A-1=1/(detA)TrC where TrC is the transpose of the matrix of cofactors. Also: If detA = 0 then the...