10/25/2022

III. Formalism

Quantum Theory
State of a system: Wave function Observables: Operators
𝑉𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟: |𝛽⟩ = 𝑇|𝛼⟩ ∶ 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦
|𝑒 ⟩ ≠ |𝑒 ⟩ + ⋯ + |𝑒 ⟩:
𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑇 𝑎|𝛼⟩ + 𝑏|𝛽⟩ = 𝑎 𝑇|𝛼⟩ + 𝑏(𝑇|𝛽⟩)
𝑒 , 𝑒 , ⋯ , 𝑒 : 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠 with 𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑁
|𝛼⟩ = 𝑎 |𝑒 ⟩ + 𝑎 |𝑒 ⟩ + ⋯ + 𝑎 |𝑒 ⟩ 𝑏 = 𝑇 𝑎 + 𝑇 𝑎 +⋯+ 𝑇 𝑎
↔ 𝑎 ,𝑎 ,⋯,𝑎 : 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮
⋮
𝑎 𝑏 =𝑇 𝑎 +𝑇 𝑎 + ⋯+𝑇 𝑎
𝑎
|𝛼⟩ → a = ⋮ : 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑥
|𝛽⟩ = 𝑇|𝛼⟩
𝑎 𝑡 𝑡 ⋯ 𝑡 𝑎
𝑡 𝑡 ⋯ 𝑡 𝑎
𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡: → b = Ta = ⋮ ⋮ ⋯ ⋮ ⋮
𝛼 𝛼 = 𝛿 : 𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑡 𝑡 ⋯ 𝑡 𝑎
𝛼 𝛽 = 𝑎 ∗ 𝑏 + 𝑎 ∗ 𝑏 + ⋯ + 𝑎∗ 𝑏 1

III. Formalism

Quantum Theory
State of a system: Wave function Observables: Operators
𝑉𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 ⟶ function (𝑁 ⟶ ∞)
𝑄 = Ψ ∗ 𝑄 Ψ𝑑𝑥 = Ψ 𝑄 Ψ
𝐻𝑖𝑙𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒:
∗
𝑄 = 𝑄 (real)
𝑓(𝑥) 𝑑𝑥 < ∞
⟹ Ψ 𝑄 Ψ = 𝑄 Ψ Ψ , 𝑄 : 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛
𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡:
𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝑎𝑑𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡):
𝑓𝑔 ≡ 𝑓 𝑥 ∗ 𝑔(𝑥)𝑑𝑥, 𝑔 𝑓 = 𝑓 𝑔 ∗
𝑓 𝑄𝑔 = 𝑄 𝑓 𝑔
𝑓 𝑓 =𝛿 : 𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙
𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛: 𝑄 = 𝑄
𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑡:
𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠:
𝑓 𝑥 = 𝑐 𝑓 𝑥 , 𝑐 = 𝑓 𝑓 𝑄 Ψ = 𝑞Ψ
Eigenfunction Eigenvalue 2

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III. Formalism

Eigenfunctions of a Hermitian Operator

𝑄 Ψ = 𝑞Ψ, 𝑓 𝑄𝑔 = 𝑄𝑓 𝑔 = (𝑄 𝑔)∗ 𝑓𝑑𝑥

Discrete spectra:

• Ψ 𝑄 Ψ = 𝑄 Ψ Ψ ⟹ Ψ 𝑞Ψ = Ψ 𝑞 ∗ Ψ ⟹ 𝑞 Ψ Ψ = 𝑞 ∗ Ψ Ψ

Theorem: The eigenvalues are real.

• 𝑄 𝑓 = 𝑞𝑓, 𝑄 𝑔 = 𝑞′𝑔 ⟹ 𝑓 𝑄 𝑔 = 𝑄 𝑓 𝑔 ⟹ 𝑞′ 𝑓 𝑔 = 𝑞 𝑓 𝑔

Theorem: The eigenfunctions with distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal.

• Axiom: The eigenfunctions of a Hermitian operator (observable) are complete.

𝑓 𝑥 =∑ 𝑐 𝑓 𝑥 , 𝑐 = 𝑓 𝑓
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