of the eigenkets of A.

In other words, the eigenkets of A are to be used as

base kets in much the same way as a set of mutually orthogonal unit vectors
is used as base vectors in Euclidean space.
Given an
arbitrary ket la) in the ket space spanned by the eigenkets
of A, let us
attempt to expand it as follows:
la) - c l a ' ) . (1.3.7)
Muluplying (a"| on the left and using the orthonormality property (1.3.6),
we can
immediately find the expansion coefficient,
Caala). (1.3.8)
In other words, we have

la)-la(ala), (1.3.9)
which is analogous to an expansion of vector V in
a (real) Euclidean space
V e(ev), (1.3.10)
where {e,} form an orthogonal set of unit vectors. We now recall the.
associative axiom of multiplication: la')(ala) can be regarded either as the
number (a'la) multiplying |a') or, equivalently, as the operator |a'){a|
acting on |a). Because l«) in (1.3.9) is an arbitrary ket, we must have

a"a'1-1, (1.3.11)

where the 1 on the right-hand side is to be understood as the identity

operator. Equation (1.3.11) is known as the completeness relation or closure.
It is difficult to ovei estimate the usefulness of (1.3.11). Given a chain
of kets, operators, or bras multiplied in legal orders, we can insert, in any
place at our convenience, the identity operator written in form (1.3.11).
Consider, for example (a\«); by inserting the identity operator between (a|
and la), we obtain

(ala)-(a (2laa"1-1a
- Ka'la)l (1.3.12)

This, incidentally, shows that if la) is normalized, tfhen the expansion

coefficients in (1.3.7) must satisfy

ZIc- Ka'la)=1. (1.3.13)

a
32

Since this is an
Let us nowlook at |a')(a| that appears in (1.3.1). an
Let it operate on la):
outer product, it must be an operator.
(la")(a') la«) |a')(ala) cla').
=
=
(1.3.14)
that |a')(a'| selects that portion of the
ket la) parallel to la"), so
We see
base ket Ja') and is
a al is known as the projection operator along the
denoted by A
Ala(a1 (1.3.15)
The completeness relation (1.3.11) can now be written as

2A-1. (1.3.16)

Matrix Representations
Having specified the base kets, we now show how to represent an
operator, say X, by a square matrix. First, using (1.3.11) twice, we write the
operator X as

X- ELa")(a"\X\a')(a (1.3.17)
a"

There are altogether N2 numbers of form (a"|Xja"), where N is the

dimensionaity of the ket space. We may arrange them into an N x NV
square matrix such that the column and row indices appear as follows:

(a"|Xcolumn
row
la") (1.3.18)
Explicitly we may write the matrix as

(aXxay (aXa
X (ax|a) (aXa) (1.3.19)
where the symbol stands for "is represented by."*
Using (1.2.38), we can write
(a"xa) = (a'|x"|a)*.
At last, the Hermitian adjoint operation,
(1.3.20)
been related to the (perhaps more originally defined by (1.2.24), has
familiar)
transposed. If an operator B is Hermitian, weconcept
of complex
have
conjugate
(a"Ba") (a'1B|a")*. (1.3.21)
*We do not use the equality sign here because
the particular form of a
depends on the particular choice of base kets used. The matrix representation
tion of the operator just as the actress is different operator is different from a representa-
from a poster of the
actress.
1.3. Base Kets and Matrix
Representations 33

The way we arranged (a"|X|a') into a square matrix is in confor

mity with the usual rule of matrix multiplication. To see this just note that
the matrix representation of the operator relation
Z XY (1.3.22)
reads

(a"1Z]a') = (a"|XY|a')

2 (a"1X\a"){a "|Y|a'). (1.3.23)

Again, all we have done is to insert the identity operator, written in form
(1.3.11), between X and Y
Let us now examine how the ket relation

Y) Xla) (1.3.24)
can be represented using our base kets. The expansion coefficients of Iy)
can be obtained by multiplying (a'| on the left:

(a'lY)= (a'|X|a)
2(a'\X|a"){a"la).
a"
(1.3.25)
 The matrix representation of an observable A becomes particularlvy
simple if the eigenkets of A themselves are used as the base kets. First, we
have

2Lla")(a"|A|a')(a1 (1.3.32)
a a'
But the square matrix
(a"'|A]a') is obviously diagonal
(a"|A|a') (a|A|a")8aa=ada'a"s
=
(1.3.33)
SO

A =
a la)(a1
a

-a'ha a
(1.3.34)

Spin Systems
It is here instructive to consider the
The base kets used are
special case of spin systems.
|S,t), which we denote, for brevity, as |t). The
simplest operator in the ket space spanned by |£)
is the
which, according identity operator,
to (1.3.11), can be written as

1=1++|+1-X-1 (1.3.35)
According to (1.3.34), we must be able to write S, as

S= (h/2)[(1+%+D--(1-X-D. (1.3.36)
 The eigenket-eigenvalue relation

S,It)=+(h/2)1+) (1.3.37)
of |t).
immediately follows from the orthonormality property
It is also instructive to look at two other operators,

S_=h1-X*|1 (1.3.38)
S,h+)-1
acting on the
which are both seen to be non-Hermitian. The operator S+, On
into the spin-up ket |+) multiplied by h.
Spin-down ket -), turns |-)
hand, the spin-up ket |+), when acted upon by
S4, becomes a
the other that it raises the spin
null ket. So the physical interpretation of S is
cannot be raised any
component by one unit of h; if the spin component
can be interpreted as
further, we automatically get a null state. Likewise, S_
one unit of h. Later we
will
an operator that lowers the spin component by
sow that S, can be written as S, t iS
momentum
In constructing the matrix representations of the angular
indices in descending
operators, it is customary to label the column (row)
order of angular momentum components, that is, the first entry corresponds
the next
to the maximum angular momentum component, the second,
have
highest, and so forth. In our particular case of spin systems, we

I+) (1.3.39a)

1
s,+
(1.3.39b)
We will come back to these explicit expressions when we discuss the Pauli
two-component formalism in Chapter 3.

1.4. MEASUREMENTS, OBSERVABLES, AND

THE UNCERTAINTY RELATIONS

Measurements
Having developed the mathematics of ket spaces, we are now in a
position,to discuss the quantum theory of measurement processes. This is
not a particularly easy subject for beginners, so we first turn to the words of
the great master, P. A. M. Dirac, for guidance (Dirac 1958, 36): "A
measurement always causes the system to jump into an eigenstate of the
dynamical variable that is being measured." What does all this mean? We
interpret Dirac's words as follows: Before a measurement of observable A is