Norm of a vector related to coherent states

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on deriving the equality involving the norm of a vector related to coherent states, specifically the expression ||(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi ||^2 = ||(a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} )\varphi ||^2 + (|z|^2-1)||\varphi ||^2. Joris initially suspected a typo in the summation and attempted to prove the equality but faced challenges. The discussion emphasizes rewriting the expression using inner product notation and suggests that algebra involving the commutator will lead to the desired result.

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  • Understanding of coherent states in quantum mechanics
  • Familiarity with the notation of creation (a^\dagger) and annihilation (a) operators
  • Knowledge of inner product spaces and norms
  • Basic algebra involving commutators in quantum mechanics
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JorisL
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Hi,

For the past couple of days I've been attempting to derive the equality (for any normalised ##\varphi##)
[tex]||(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi ||^2 = ||(a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} )\varphi ||^2 + (|z|^2-1)||\varphi ||^2[/tex]
First of the summation seemed like a typo. So I first tried to prove this but got nowhere. As such I tried to change it to an equality. ( I entertained this idea because I found, and verified, some other typos in previous equations )Below is an outline of my attempt to derive the second equality (assuming a typo)
Here we consider a system of bosons with only one mode hence ##[ a, a^\dagger ] = 1##.
I expanded the norm as ##||(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi ||^2 = \langle (a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} )\varphi , (a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi \rangle##

I just cannot get a factor ##|z|^2## out of there. Because the inner product is defined as ##\langle\alpha \psi,\phi\rangle = \bar{\alpha}\langle \psi, \phi \rangle## while ##\langle \psi,\alpha\phi\rangle = \alpha\langle \psi, \phi \rangle##.

So the straightforward way doesn't work. Next I tried to use the first equality.
Lets call the two norms in this equality A resp. B, could I maybe use A-B was my idea.
Because in the text the commutation relations were mentioned which (could) show up directly this way.
I'm not going to write everything I tried (a lot) down here but I tried various tricks etc.

Thanks

Joris
 
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JorisL said:
##||(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi ||^2 = \langle (a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} )\varphi , (a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi \rangle##

It's a little clearer if you write it in the notation

$$||(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi ||^2 = \langle \varphi| (a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} )(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)|\varphi \rangle.$$

Then you will see that

$$||(a+za^\dagger+ \lambda)\varphi ||^2 - || (a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} )\varphi ||^2 = \langle \varphi| [a^\dagger+\bar{z}a+ \bar{\lambda} ,a+za^\dagger+ \lambda]|\varphi \rangle$$

and a bit of algebra on the commutator should lead you to the result.
 
Thanks I will check this tomorrow since it's late already.
Unbelievable I didn't notice that, guess its one of those case where prolonged staring makes it worse :)

Joris
 

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