Hilbert space Definition and 236 Threads

I'd like to discuss some aspects of quantum systems' state space from a mathematical perspective. Take for a instance a qubit, e.g. a two-state quantum system and consider the set of its pure states. This set as such is a "concrete" set, namely the "bag" containing all the qubit's pure states...

In A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, Townsend writes: One of the most evident features of the position-space representations (9.117), (9.127), and (9.128) of the angular momentum operators is that they depend only on the angles ##\theta## and ##\phi##, not at all on the magnitude ##r##...

Answers to questions like this assume that the quantum state in a Hilbert space is only a function of time, that is ##\partial_i\vert\psi(t)\rangle\neq0## only when the variable ##i## is ##t##. Is this a postulate of standard quantum mechanics, that in Schrödinger's equation the state in...

Wikipedia says that the equation in the title is defined to be true. But is it true always? Working with the right-hand side, $$\langle \mathbf r\vert\hat A\vert\Psi\rangle=\int\langle \mathbf r\vert\hat A\vert\mathbf r'\rangle\langle\mathbf r'\vert\Psi\rangle\ d\mathbf r'$$ If we assume...

I've a doubt about the following definition from PSE thread. The first answer says that the position representation of the position operator ##\hat{x}## is: $$\bra{x}\hat{x} = \bra{x}x$$ I believe there is a typo, it should actually be $$\bra{x}\hat{x} = x \bra{x}$$ Does it make sense ? Thanks.

Very simple question: for a two-state quantum system (qubit), is its state space a two-dimensional Hilbert space over the complex field ##\mathbb C## isomorphic to ##\mathbb C^2## or is it ##\mathbb C^2## itself ?

In QM textbooks, authors will often jam two kets next to each other and say nothing about the binary operation between them. Other times, it may be called a tensor product, Kronecker product, direct product, or, in Griffith's case, a simple product. I ask the following question in this forum...

Hello to all, Questions that I hope are not completely devoid of physical meaning. Firstly, about space. Let be a Hilbert space, in which we can by definition establish the existence of complete and orthonormal vector bases; and a Psi vector (state) that we write as a linear combination (a...

According to this Wikipedia entry a quantum pure qbit state is a ray in the Hilbert space ##\mathbb H_2## of dimension 2. In other words a qbit pure quantum state is a point in the Hilbert projective line. Now my question: is an arbitrary vector in ##\mathbb H_2## actually a "mixed" state for...

Hi, I'm aware of the wave function ##\Psi## of a quantum system represents basically the "continuous components" of a quantum state (a point/vector in the infinite-dimension Hilbert space) in a basis. If we take the ##\delta(x - \bar x)## eigenfunctions as basis on Hilbert space then the wave...

This is so basic as to be embarrassing, but I haven't figured out my misunderstanding of some basic notation. [1] If v and w are two vectors in a Hilbert space, then <v|w> is interpreted as the probability amplitude of w collapsing into v. [2] However, if P is a projection, then <v|Pv>...

What can AI do, and not do, in physics currently? Can it navigate hilbert space (I don't know what this is, just coming from an HPS undergrad background)? Can it design atomic bombs? Has it solved any problems? I suppose much research uses AI. In what forms?

How to prove that the tensor product of two same-dimensional Hilbert spaces is also a Hilbert space? I understand that I need to prove the Cauchy Completeness of the new Hilbert space. I am stuck in the middle.

In the "On The detailed balance conditions for non-Hamiltonian systems", I learned that for a Markov open quantum system to satisfying the master equation with the Liouvillian superoperators, the detailed balance condition will be > Definition 2: The open quantum Markovian system...

Prove that the weak topology on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space is non-metrizable.

I have a question about operators in finite dimension Hilbert space. I will describe the context before asking the question. Assume we have two quantum states | \Psi_{1} \rangle and | \Psi_{2} \rangle . Both of the quantum states are elements of the Hilbert space, thus | \Psi_{1} \rangle , |...

I want to share my recent results on the foundation of classical mechanics. Te abstract readWe construct an operational formulation of classical mechanics without presupposing previous results from analytical mechanics. In doing so, several concepts from analytical mechanics will be rediscovered...

In Quantum Mechanics, how can you justify the use of distributions like the delta functional without introducing a rigged Hilbert space? I see that some texts do not make any reference to this subject.

To elaborate that summary a bit, suppose ##\mathcal H## is the Hilbert space of the particle, with ##\mathcal{H}_2\subseteq\mathcal{H}## its two-dimensional spin subspace. Now consider any ##|x\rangle\in\mathcal{H}## such that ##|x\rangle\perp\mathcal{H}_2##, i.e., ##\forall ~...

fidelity for pure state with respect to t=0 is 1. My teacher told me this. But I am not getting this. This is my detailed question the initial state(t=0)##|\psi\rangle=|\alpha\rangle|0\rangle## the final state (t) ##|\chi\rangle= |i\alpha\sin(t)\rangle|cos(t)\alpha\rangle## Fidelity between the...

What do you guys think of this soberly elegant proposal by Sean Carroll? Reality as a Vector in Hilbert Space Fundamental reality lives in Hilbert space and everything else (space, fields, particles...) is emergent. Seems to me a step in the right conceptual direction.

For a real scalar field, I have the following expression for the field operator in momentum space. $$\tilde{\phi}(t,\vec{k})=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\omega}}\left(a_{\vec{k}}e^{-i\omega t}+a^{\dagger}_{-\vec{k}}e^{i\omega t}\right)$$ Why is it that I can discard the phase factors to produce the time...

Let's play this game, let's assume the infinite Hilbert Space, the operators and all the modern machinery introduced by Von Neuman were not allowed. How would be the formalism? Thanks

I have a question that is related to categories and physics. I was reading this paper by John Baez in which he describes a TQFT as a functor from the category nCob (n-dimensional cobordisms) to Vector spaces. https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0404040.pdf. At the beginning of the paper @john baez...

When orthogonal states of a quantum system is projected into subspaces A and B are A and B real spaces?

Hello, Throughout my undergrad I have gotten maybe too comfortable with using Dirac notation without much second thought, and I am feeling that now in grad school I am seeing some holes in my knowledge. The specific context where I am encountering this issue currently is in scattering theory...

Suppose we have an infinite dimensional Hilbert-like space but that is incomplete, such as if a subspace isomorphic to ##\mathbb{R}## had countably many discontinuities and we extended it to an isomorphism of ##\mathbb{R}^{\infty}##. Is there a measure of integrating along any closed subset of...

Is there any relation between dynamical system and Hilbert space(functional analysis)?

Let ##\mathscr{L_H}## be the usual lattice of subspaces of Hilbert space ##\mathscr{H}##, where for ##p,q\in\mathscr{H}## we write ##p\leq q## iff ##p## is a subspace of ##q##. Then, as discussed by, e.g., Beltrametti&Cassinelli https://books.google.com/books?id=yWoq_MRKAgcC&pg=PA98, this...

One proposal that I have read (but cannot re-find the source, sorry) was to identify a truth value for a proposition (event) with the collection of closed subspaces in which the event had a probability of 1. But as I understand it, a Hilbert space is a framework which, unless trivial, keeps...

If propositions ##p,q\in{\mathscr L}_{\mathcal H}## (i.e., the lattice of subspaces of ##\mathcal H##) are incompatible, then ##\hat p\hat q\neq\hat q\hat p##. But since it's a lattice, there exists a unique glb ##p\wedge q=q\wedge p##. How are they mathematically related? In particular, I...

I'm currently working my way through Griffith's Elementary Particles text, and I'm looking to understand what's going on with the underlying Hilbert space of a system described using a Feynman diagram. I'm fairly well acquainted with non relativistic QM, but not much with QFT. In particular, I'd...

X=e+or-kx (1) <X(x)|Φ(x)>=∫-∞∞X*(x)Φ(x)dx (2) where Φ(x) satisfies the following. ∫-∞∞|Φ(x)|2(1+|x|)ndx is finte if n=0, 1, 2,...

In quantum mechanics, the Eigenfunction resulting from the Hamiltonian of a free particle in 1D system is $$ \phi = \frac{e^{ikx} }{\sqrt{2\pi} } $$ We know that a function $$ f(x) $$ belongs to Hilbert space if it satisfies $$ \int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} |f(x)|^2 dx < \infty $$ But since the...

Elementary question: Is there ever a case where the solutions for a wave equation turn out not to be a vector (in Hilbert space of infinite complex-valued dimensions, or a restriction to a subspace thereof) , but something else -- say, (higher-order) tensors or bivectors, or some such? My...

I've been struggling with a somewhat-recent paper by Charles Francis, "A construction of full QED using finite dimensional Hilbert space," available here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0605127.pdf But also published in...

Is there any theory in physics that can be modeled in any type of space (Hilbert space, Euclidean, Non-Euclidean...etc)? And if yes, could that theory also contain/be compatible with all types of (physical) symmetries?

I was surprised recently to learn that one of the reasons both Newton and Einstein were so revolutionary was that they performed a neat mathematical trick. For Newton, it was the mathematical derivation of Kepler's laws from Newton's laws of gravitation and motion. For Einstein, it was the...

Hello, I've a fundamental question that seems to keep myself confused about the mathematics of quantum mechanics. For simplicity sake I'll approach this in the discrete fashion. Consider the countable set of functions of Hilbert space, labeled by i\in \mathbb{N} . This set \left...

(a) and (b) are fairly traditional, but I have trouble understanding the phrasing of (c). What makes the infinite dimensionality in (c) different from (a) and (b)?

I want to prove Cauchy–Schwarz' inequality, in Dirac notation, ##\left<\psi\middle|\psi\right> \left<\phi\middle|\phi\right> \geq \left|\left<\psi\middle|\phi\right>\right|^2##, using the Lagrange multiplier method, minimizing ##\left|\left<\psi\middle|\phi\right>\right|^2## subject to the...

Hello, I am taking a quantum mechanics course using the Griffiths textbook and encountering some confusion on the definition of inner products on eigenfunctions of hermitian operators. In chapter 3 the definition of inner products is explained as follows: $$ \langle f(x)| g(x) \rangle = \int...

-Definition of complete space: if every Cauchy sequence of points in M has a limit that is also in M or, alternatively, if every Cauchy sequence in converges in M. (and from this definition we can define Hilbert Space) -Definition of Hilbert space: A Hilbert space is a vector space with an...

Could someone tell me in what sense the following photo of Hilbert is a infinite dimensional Hilbert Space? It's shown in a pdf I'm reading. Perhaps I'm putting the chariot in front of the horses as one would say here in our country, by considering infinite as infinite dimensional?

> Operator $$\hat{A}$$ has two normalized eigenstates $$\psi_1,\psi_2$$ with > eigenvalues $$\alpha_1,\alpha_2$$. Operator $$\hat{B}$$ has also two > normalized eigenstates $$\phi_1,\phi_2$$ with eigenvalues > $$\beta_1,\beta_2$$. Eigenstates satisfy: > $$\psi_1=(\phi_1+2\phi_2)/\sqrt{5}$$ >...

Hi PF! Given a function ##B## defined as $$B[f(x)]\equiv f''(x) + f(x) + const.$$ Evidently in order for this function to be in the real Hilbert space ##H## we know $$const. = -\frac{1}{x_1-x_0}\int_{x_0}^{x_1} (f''(x) + f(x))\,dx.$$ Can someone please explain why? I can elaborate further if...

Homework Statement Have to read a paper and somewhere along the line it claims that for any distinct ## \ket{\phi_{0}}## and ##\ket{\phi_{1}}## we can choose a basis s.t. ## \ket{\phi_{0}}= \cos\frac{\theta}{2}\ket{0} + \sin\frac{\theta}{2}\ket{1}, \hspace{0.5cm} \ket{\phi_{1}}=...

Hi physicsforums, I am an undergrad currently taking an upper-division course in Quantum Mechanics and we have begun studying L^2 space, state vectors, bra-ket notation, and operators, etc. I have a few questions about the relationship between L^2, the space of square-integrable complex-valued...

I am looking for a signal processing textbook that uses real, complex, and functional analysis with measure theory. In other words, mathematically rigorous signal processing. Specifically, I prefer the kind that takes time to review all the topics from mathematical analysis before jumping into...

Operators. The Maze Of Definitions. We will use the conventions of part I (Basics), which are ##\mathbb{F}\in \{\mathbb{R},\mathbb{C}\}##, ##z \mapsto \overline{z}## for the complex conjugate, ##\tau## for transposing matrices or vectors, which we interpret as written in a column if given a...