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Principles of quantum mechanics

The basic postulates of quantum mechanics set the concepts of a quantum system, its state and
evolution, and define the nature of observables.

The state space of a, possibly composite, quantum system is a vectorial space over complex
numbers, the hilbert space  . The state of a general, possibly mixed, quantum system is given by
its density operator ρ :

∑
ρ= pn |ψn ⟩⟨ψn |
n

where |ψn ⟩ ∈ n and pn ∈ [0, 1] satisfying

∑
pn = 1 .
n

Each n can be interpreted in two equivalent ways: (i) as a member of a composite quantum
system; (ii) as a subsystem of a larger system, the whole system being in a pure state

|ψ⟩ ∈  = n .
⨂
n

A state which is not pure, is mixed. The hilbert state of an ensemble is then the kronecker product
of the hilbert spaces of its elements.

Physical quantities are hermitian operators over the system’s hilbert space. Examples are the
position and momentum of an oscillator, the total angular momentum of an atom or the spin of
the electron; they are usually called observables. The spectrum on of a hermitian operator O is
real and its eigenvectors form an orthonormal basis of the hilbert space:

O|on ⟩ = on |on ⟩, ⟨on |om ⟩ = δnm .

The expected value of an observable of a system in state ρ is,

⟨O⟩ = Tr Oρ ,

which reduces to ⟨O⟩ = ⟨ψ|O|ψ⟩ in the case of a pure state |ψ⟩.

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The evolution of the quantum state is unitary

ρ(t) = U(t, t0 )ρ(t0 )U † (t, t0 ) ;

the unitary operator U(t, t0 ) evolves the system from time t0 to t . In the case that the quantum
system is described by a hamiltonian H , independent of time,

U(t) = e−iHt .

In this case the quantum state satisfies the Schrödinger equation:

∂
i ρ = [H, ρ], .
∂t
This basic principles are complemented with an empirical theory of the measurement. In addition, for
systems of identical particles, one distinguishes bosons and fermions according to the symmetry of the
quantum state under particle permutations: fermion states are completely antisymmetric; boson states
are completely symmetric.

Measurement
In the case of a quantum system in a pure state we have the usual Born rule:

A projective or orthogonal measurement of a system in a quantum state |ψ⟩, is the projection Pn

into an eigenstate on of the observable O:

Pn |ψ⟩ = ψn |on ⟩ ,

where ψn is the complex amplitude corresponding to the state on . It is important to note that the
projected “state” resulting is not normalized (obviously P is not unitary). A projection operator
satisfies P2 = P; its eigenvalues are then 0 or 1 . The result of the projective measurement is the
eigenvalue on with probability (Born rule):

p(on ) = pn = ⟨ψ|Pn |ψ⟩ = |⟨on |ψ⟩|2 = |ψn |2 .

The post-measurement state (“collapse”) becomes,

Pn |ψ⟩
|ψ⟩ → = |on ⟩ .
⟨ψ|Pn |ψ⟩

This rule generalizes trivially to mixed states: the probability to measure the property n in the state ρ
is simply,

pn = Tr Pn ρ ,

and the quantum state becomes, after the measurement,

Pn ρPn
ρn = ,
Tr Pn ρ

if the outcome is on . The measurement action itself changes the state into:

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∑
ρ → ρM = pn ρn .
n

More generally, we consider a measurement to be the result of the interaction of the system of interest
with an apparatus. The total hilbert space is then the product of the system’s space and an “ancilla”
space which is spanned by the measuring basis. This is essentially the von Neumann model of the
measurement process.1 A “measurement” M can then be made via a unitary operator UM which acts on
a product space S ⊗ A of the system S and an ancilla space A spanned by the set |n⟩, which is in
one to one correspondence with the set of the possible measurement outcomes |on ⟩ . Therefore, the
measurement consists in the action:

∑
UM |ψ⟩ ⊗ |0⟩ = Mn |ψ⟩ ⊗ |n⟩ ,
n

here |ψ⟩ is the state of S and |0⟩ is a fixed state of A . The system state after selection of the outcome,
say |m⟩ for some n = m , transforms into the post-measurement state:

Mm |ψ⟩
|ψ⟩ → |ψ ⟩M = .
⟨ψ|Mm† Mm |ψ⟩

In addition, unitarity of UM implies that the set of operators Mn is complete:

Mn† Mn =
∑ ∑
En = 1
n n

where 1 is here the identity operator; Mn are called Kraus operators, and the set of positive operators
En = Mn† Mn form a complete set that generalizes the set of projectors Pn of the orthogonal measure.
Previous to the selection, if initially the system’s state the state was ρ , the interaction with the apparatus
leaves the system in a mixed state:

Mn ρMn† ;
∑
ρM =
n

after selection, the outcome n of the measurement is the state

Mn ρMn†
ρn = ,
Tr Mn ρMn†

which generalizes the projective measurement to the case of a set of measurement operators Mn .

In summary, for a pure or mixed system in state ρ , a quantum measurement is realized with the aid of a
Kraus operator Mn , which measures property n with probability,

pn = Tr Mn ρMn† = Tr En ρ .

The measurement modifies the state into,

Mn ρMn† ,
∑
ρM =
n

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and the post-measurement state is,

Mn ρMn†
ρn = ,
Tr En ρ

therefore, one may say that the Kraus operators Mn are the generators of the post-measurement state,
they are sometimes called the detection operators. In the quantum information literature the complete
set En is called a positive operator valued measure or POVM.

Ideal measurement, Cini model

One interesting and thorough example of non-intrusive measurement is the Cini2 model: a two state
system σz = Z (S , up and down) is in contact with an apparatus (A ) consisting in a set of N bosons
(eventually macroscopic) that can occupy a ground state 0 or an excited one 1 (see figure).

A two level system S (atom) is put in interaction with an apparatus A (ancilla space) consisting
in N bosons that can be in two states 0 and 1 . The interaction is tuned in such a way that the
population of the excited level depends on the amplitude of the up atom state.

The interaction hamiltonian is,

J
HSA = (1 + Z)(a†0 a1 + a0 a†1 ) ,
2√N
‾‾

where J is the coupling constant and a†s , as are creation and annihilations operators of the states
s = 0, 1, they satisfy the usual boson commutation relations,

[as , a†s ] = 1, [a0 , a1 ] = [a†0 , a†1 ] = 0 .

Note that in the S down state the interaction energy vanishes and is proportional to J in the up state.
Therefore, the apparatus can distinguishes between the up and down states, which is precisely the goal a
measuring device. An ancilla state depends on the number n of bosons in the ground state:

(a†0 )n (a†1 )N−n

|n, N − n⟩ = |00⟩ .
√‾n!(N
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
− n)!‾

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The energy associated to the excitation of one mode is given by the matrix element,

⟨N, 0|⟨↑ |HSA | ↑⟩|N − 1, 1⟩ = J ,

which justifies the √N

‾‾ factor in the definition of the coupling interaction; indeed, using the uncertainty
energy relation we obtain that the one mode excitation time is τ ∼ 1/J , independent of N , as it should.

We compute now the evolution of the initial product state,

|ψ(0)⟩ = (c↑ |↑⟩ + c↓ |↓⟩)|N0⟩

in which the system is in an arbitrary superposition and the apparatus in its ground state. After a time t
the state evolves to EX:3

∑
|ψ(t)⟩ = c↑ |↑⟩ An (t)|n N − n⟩ + c↓ |↓⟩|N0⟩ ,
n=0

where

iN−n √N!
‾‾
‾ Jt Jt
An (t) = cosn sinN−n .
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
√n!(N − n)!‾ √N
‾‾ √N
‾‾

The probability Pn = |An |2 of finding n bosons in the ground state is,

(n)
N
Pn = p(t)n q(t)N−n ,

where

Jt Jt
pn (t) = cos2 , qn (t) = sin2 .
√N
‾‾ √N
‾‾

The binomial distribution is strongly concentrated around its maximum: for large N its approaches a
gaussian distribution (de Moivre-Laplace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Moivre-Laplace_theorem)
theorem). Therefore, at some time, when n(t) = Np(t) = n̄ , one finds

( n̄ )( N ) ( N )
N n̄ n̄ N − n̄ N−n̄
Pn̄ = ∼  (Np, Npq) ,

or using the stirling formula EX:

Pn̄ ≈ 1 .

Therefore, the contribution to the total probability of the states other than those near n ≈ n̄ is negligible.
Initially t = 0, Pn (0) = δnN , and at t ⋆ = (π/2)N 1/2 /J , the whole set of bosons is in the excited state

Pn (t ⋆ ) = δn0 , t ⋆ ∼ √N
‾‾ ,

which gives us an order of magnitude of the needed time to populate macroscopically the excited state.
However, the time to correlate the system with apparatus is much smaller, of the order of 1/J . As a

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consequence, for large N the combined system state can be written as,

|ψ(t)⟩ = c↑ |↑⟩|n̄(t), N − n̄(t)⟩ + c↓ |↓⟩|N, 0⟩ .

This state establishes a one to one correspondance between system and apparatus: an excited apparatus
corresponds to the system in the up state, and the apparatus in the ground state corresponds to the
system in the down state. Note that the final state is not a product state, as it would be in the case of
collapse, it is entangled; however, the interference terms, which are proportional to the overlap,

⟨n̄, N − n̄|N, 0⟩

are vanishingly small. We may see the measuring process as a way to amplify the microscopic state of
the system, into a macroscopically distinguishable superposition of states.

Exercises
1. Demonstrate the following properties of the density matrix

ρ = ρ†
Tr ρ = 1
ρ is positive
Tr ρ2 ≤ 1
2. Consider a bipartite system AB of two two level atoms, and the unitary operator:

U : (a|0⟩ + b|1⟩)A ⊗ |0⟩ → a|0⟩A ⊗ |0⟩B + b|1⟩A ⊗ |1⟩B

Find a matrix representation of U . Calculate the probability pA (0) to find the atom A in the
ground state, using a measure of the second atom B .

If the measure of the B atom is made in the basis of σx = X , |±⟩, what are the post-measurement
states of A ?

Show that the operator U can be also defined by the rule

U : |ψ ⟩A ⊗ |0⟩B → M+ |ψ ⟩A ⊗ |+⟩B + M− |−⟩|ψ ⟩A ⊗ |−⟩B ,

where

√2‾ ( 0 1) √2‾ ( 0 −1 )
1 1 0 1 1 0
M+ = , M− = ,

Show that the set M is complete. Compute M±† |ψ ⟩A and compare with the post-measurement
states obtained before. Calculate the norm of these two vectors |M±† |ψ ⟩A |2 and compare the
results with pA (±) .

Notes
A concise and useful book is,

J. A. Bergou, and M. Hillery, Introduction to the Theory of Quantum Information Processing

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(Springer, 2013)

1. J. Preskill, Lecture notes on Quantum Information (Caltech, 1997-) web (http://theory.caltech.edu

/~preskill/ph219/index.html) ↩

2. M. Cini, Quantum theory of measurment without wave packet collapse, Nuovo Cimento B 73, 27
(1983) .pdf (/pdfs/Cini-1983yq.pdf) ↩

3. Note that the bosonic part of the interaction hamiltonian,

H ∼ a†0 a1 + a0 a†1

is diagonalized by the linear transformation (with unit jacobian, then preserving the commutation
relations),

b0 − b1 b0 + b1
a0 = , a1 = .
√2‾ √2‾
The new hamiltonian is

H̄ ∼ b†0 b0 − b†1 b1 .

Its eigenvalues are integers n̄ , and its eigenvectors are (it is enough to change n by n̄ in the
expression of the harmonic oscillator eigenvectors):

(b†0 )n̄ (b†1 )N−n̄

|n̄, N − n̄⟩ = |0⟩
√‾n̄‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
!(N − n̄)!‾

Now we want to express the old eigenvectors in terms of the new ones; the initial state reads,

(a†0 )N
|N, 0⟩ = |0⟩
√N!
‾‾
‾
†
1 (b0 − b1 )N
= |0⟩
√N!
‾‾
‾ √2‾

( )
1 N
(−1)N−n̄ (b†0 )n̄ (b†1 )N−n̄ |0⟩
∑
= N/2
2 √N!‾‾
‾ n̄
n̄

1 N!(−1)N−n̄
√n̄‾‾!√‾(N
‾‾‾‾‾‾
− n̄)!‾|n̄, N − n̄⟩
‾ ∑
=
2N/2 √‾‾
N! n̄!(N − n̄)!
n̄

1 (−1)N−n̄ √N!‾‾
‾
∑ √n̄‾‾!√‾(N
= |n̄, N − n̄⟩
2N/2 n̄
‾‾‾‾‾‾
− n̄ ‾
)!

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