- #1
Faust90
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Homework Statement
I have a hermitian Operator A and a quantum state |Psi>=a|1>+b|2> (so we're an in a two-dim. Hilbert space)
In generally, {|1>,|2>} is not the eigenbasis of the operator A.
I shall now show that the Eigenvaluse of A are the maximal (minimal) expection values <Psi|A|Psi>.
The Attempt at a Solution
I tried to calculate the expectation, which yields to:
|a|^2 A_11 + |b|^2 A_22 +a b* A_12 +b a* A_21
, where A_kl are the matrix elements of the operator A in the given basis of the Hilbert space.
Now I could try to maximize this w.r.t to a and b, under the constraint that a^2 + b^2 =1. Didn't work very well...
Does anyone have an idea?