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  • Unitary Operators: Next Up Previous About This Document ... Bra Ket Notation Matrix Representation of Operators

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    Shan De Silva
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    This document discusses unitary operators. It defines unitary operators as operators whose adjoint is their inverse. Unitary operators have the property that the eigenvalues of a matrix are invariant under a unitary similarity transformation, meaning the eigenvalues will be the same even if the operator is represented by different matrices related by a unitary similarity transformation. This allows any operator representation to be transformed into a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues distributed on the diagonal.

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    Unitary Operators

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    This document discusses unitary operators. It defines unitary operators as operators whose adjoint is their inverse. Unitary operators have the property that the eigenvalues of a matrix are invariant under a unitary similarity transformation, meaning the eigenvalues will be the same even if the operator is represented by different matrices related by a unitary similarity transformation. This allows any operator representation to be transformed into a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues distributed on the diagonal.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    18 views2 pages

    Unitary Operators: Next Up Previous About This Document ... Bra Ket Notation Matrix Representation of Operators

    Uploaded by

    Shan De Silva
    This document discusses unitary operators. It defines unitary operators as operators whose adjoint is their inverse. Unitary operators have the property that the eigenvalues of a matrix are invariant under a unitary similarity transformation, meaning the eigenvalues will be the same even if the operator is represented by different matrices related by a unitary similarity transformation. This allows any operator representation to be transformed into a diagonal matrix with the eigenvalues distributed on the diagonal.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 2

    4/8/2016

    Unitaryoperators

    next
    up
    previous

    Next:Aboutthisdocument...Up:BraketnotationPrevious:Matrixrepresentationofoperators

    Unitaryoperators
    Supposewehaveabasisset

    thatiscomplete.Thesestatesmightbeeigenstates

    ofsomehermitianoperator,sayA.IfwehaveanotherhermitianoperatorB,thentheeigenstatesofB
    couldalsoserveasacompletebasisset,letscallit
    .Wedefinetheoperator
    ,anditsadjoint

    .Notethat

    (1.46)

    andwecanshow,inthesamemanner,that
    .Inotherwords,theadjointofoperatorUisits
    inverseU1.Operatorsthathavethispropertyarecalledunitaryoperators.
    ConsideranyHilbertspaceoperator
    ofXwithrespecttobasis

    where

    isthematrixrepresentation

    .Alternatively,wecanexpressXintermsofthe

    basis.

    where

    isthematrixrepresentationofX

    inthe|bn>basis,or
    (1.47)

    Wemultiplythisrelationbythebra<al|ontheleft,andbyket|ap>ontherighttoget

    (1.48)

    but,

    and

    or

    http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~bernard/phy721_99/tex_notes/node9.html

    (1.49)

    1/2

    4/8/2016

    Unitaryoperators

    Inmatrixnotationthisequationissimplywritten
    (1.50)

    thatis,operatorX,whosematrixrepresentationisgivenby
    representationofXinthe|bn>basis,

    inthe|an>basis,isrelatedtothematrix

    ,bytheaboverelation.(Note:

    isthematrixrepresentationof

    operatorXinthe|an>representation).
    Matrixequationsthathavethisstructurearecalledsimilaritytransformations,andhaveimportant
    properties.Onofsuchpropertiesisthattheeigenvaluesofamatrixareinvariantunderaunitary
    similaritytransformation.Thatmeanseventhough ,and aredifferentmatrices,theireigenvalues
    arethesamesincetheyarerelatedbyaunitarysimilaritytransformation.Thisimpliesthatwecanalways
    find foranyoperatorrepresentation sothatthetransformedmatrixisdiagonal.It'seigenvaluesare
    thendistributedonthediagonal.
    next up previous

    Next:Aboutthisdocument...Up:BraketnotationPrevious:Matrixrepresentationofoperators
    BernardZygelman
    19990921

    http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~bernard/phy721_99/tex_notes/node9.html

    2/2

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