Does Dirac Notation Determine Quantum States Uniquely?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mkarydas
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Notation
mkarydas
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
I have the following question for anyone who can help:
Suppose in Dirak notation i have the following state:
/ψ> = 2 /u1> + /u2> where /u1>,/u2> are the two first eigen kets of energy of the infinite square well.

That means <x/u1>= Asin(π x /L) and <x/u1>= Asin(2 π x /L) which gives :

<x/ψ>= 2Asin(π x /L) + Asin(2 π x /L)

Everything ok so far. But what would happen if i chose <x/u1>= - Asin(π x /L) instead of
<x/u1>= Asin(π x /L) which is perfectly legitimate. Then <x/ψ> would become:

<x/ψ>= -2Asin(π x /L) + Asin(2 π x /L) which is not the same as

<x/ψ>= 2Asin(π x /L) + Asin(2 π x /L) ..( you can not get to one another by multiplying a constant phase so the are different)
So the question is does /ψ> = 2 /u1> + /u2> determine the state of a system or not because it seems that it depends on my free choice of base kets /u1>, /u2> ?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Yes, that's correct. Any change to the phase of /u1> must be matched with another phase to the coefficients of the expansion of /ψ>, otherwise you will get a different state.
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
Back
Top