Module 5

QUANTUM STATES
• We are now going to associate to the current state of the particle an n
dimensional complex column vector [c0,c1,...,cn−1]T.
• The particle being at the point xi shall be denoted as |xi> , using the
Dirac ket notation.
• To each of these n basic states, we shall associate a column vector: |
x0 > → [1,0,....0] T
• |x1 >→ [0,1,....0] T

• |xn> −→ [0,0,....1] T
• Thus, every state of our system can be represented by an element of
Cn as
|ψ> = [c0,c1,...,cn−1]T
• We say that the state|ψ> is a superposition of the basic states.

• |ψ> represents the particle as being simultaneously in all {x0,x1,...,xn−1}

locations, or a blending of all the |xi> .
• The norm square of the complex number ci
How to Normalized a quantum State
Transition Amplitude
• The inner product of the state space gives us a tool to compute
complex numbers known as transition amplitudes, which in turn will
enable us to determine how likely the state of the system before a
specific measurement (start state),will change to another(end
state),after measurement has been carried out.
OBSERVABLES

To each physical observable there corresponds a hermitian

operator.
• an observable is a linear operator, which means that it maps states to
states. If we apply the observable to the state vector |ψ>, the resulting
state is now |ψ>.
Spin Operator
commutator

If the answer is zero that mean two matrix commute with each
other.
The spin operators do not commute with each other.
If the commutator of two observables is not zero, there is an
intrinsic limit to our capability of measuring their values
simultaneously.
Expectation value
• In quantum mechanics, the expectation value is the probabilistic
expected value of the result (measurement) of an experiment.

• It can be thought of as an average of all the possible outcomes of a

measurement as weighted by their likelihood, and as such it is not the
most probable value of a measurement; indeed the expectation value
may have zero probability of occurring (e.g. measurements which can
only yield integer values may have a non-integer mean).
How to calculate expectation value
Expectation value= <AѰIѰ>
1. First multiply A and Ѱ (say the answer is B)
2. Then take Bra notation (Transpose conjugate )of the answer (say B ɬ)
3. Next multiply that B ɬ with Ѱ again.
4. It will give you the expectation value.
 variance
 The results of the different measurements of any observable value will be
scattered around the expectation value <x>.
 The spread of the distribution around its expected value, i.e., the variance
of the distribution.
 A small variance will tell us that most of the eigenvalues are very close to
the mean, whereas a large variance means just the opposite.
Standard Deviation
• Standard deviation is a statistic that measures the dispersion of a
dataset relative to its mean and is calculated as the square root of the
variance.
• The standard deviation is calculated as the square root of variance by
determining each data point's deviation relative to the mean.
• Heisenberg’s principle tells us that the commutator measures
how good a simultaneous measure of two observables can
be.
• In particular, if the commutator happens to be zero (or
equivalently, if the observables commute), there is no limit
(at least in principle) to our accuracy.
Let us sum up:
• Observables are represented by Hermitian operators.
• The result of an observation is always an eigenvalue of the Hermitian.
The expression <ψ|Ω |ψ> represents the expected value of observing
on Ω |ψ>.
• Observables in general do not commute. This means that the order of
observation matters. Moreover, if the commutator of two observables
is not zero, there is an intrinsic limit to our capability of measuring
their values simultaneously.
MEASURING