Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

PHY-403 Quantum Mechanics-I 11.08.2023

Assignment 2

Notes:
1. Some problems will be discussed on 17. 08. 2023.

2. Please make sure that you do the assignment by yourself. You can consult your class-
mates and seniors and ensure you understand the concept. However, do not copy
assignments from others.

3. During the tutorial session, TA will randomly ask a student to come to the board to
solve tutorial problems.

1. Consider the following two kets:

   
−i 1
|ψ⟩ =  1 + i 

, |ϕ⟩ =  −i 


2 2−i

(a) Find the dual space vector ⟨ϕ|.

(b) Evaluate the scalar product ⟨ϕ | ψ⟩.
(c) Can you evaluate the product |ψ⟩|ϕ⟩?

2. Consider the following two polarization vectors

|E⟩ = 3i |X⟩ − 7i |Y ⟩ ; |E ′ ⟩ = − |X⟩ + 2i |Y ⟩ ,

where |X⟩ and |Y ⟩ correspond to x and y polarized states. Calculate the scalar products
⟨E | E ′ ⟩ and ⟨E ′ | E⟩. Are they equal?

3. Let  and B̂ be Hermitian operators

(a) Show that ÂB̂ = [Â, B̂]/2 + {Â, B̂}/2 where {Â, B̂} = ÂB̂ + B̂ Â is the anticom-
mutator.
(b) Show that the anticommutator is Hermitian and the commutator is anti- Hermi-
tian (that is, [Â, B̂]† = −[Â, B̂] ).
(c) As discussed in the class, the expectation values of Hermitian operators are real.
What can you say about the expectation value of an anti-Hermitian operator?

4. Outer product and Completeness relation

In the lectures, we showed that the scalar product of two arbitrary states (Ψ, Φ) can
be written in a compact form as ⟨Ψ|Φ⟩.

(a) Show that the outer product of two vectors (states), denoted by |Ψ⟩⟨Φ|, is a
matrix. Hence, the outer product is an operator.
(b) Obtain the outer product of the following linear polarization states:
i. |⃗x⟩⟨⃗x|

1
 ii. |⃗x⟩⟨⃗y |
iii. |⃗y ⟩⟨⃗x|
iv. |⃗y ⟩⟨⃗y |
From the above relations, you should be able to show that

|⃗x⟩⟨⃗x| + |⃗y ⟩⟨⃗y | = 1 (1)

This is known as completness relation.

(c) Instead of two linear polarization states, consider |⃗x⟩ and |R⟩ defined as
1
|R⟩ = √ (|⃗x⟩ + i|⃗y ⟩) (2)
2
Calculate the outerproduct of |⃗x⟩ and |R⟩.
(d) Is
|⃗x⟩⟨⃗x| + |R⟩⟨R| = 1? (3)
What do you infer from Eqs. (??, ??)?

5. Consider a two-dimensional space where a Hermitian operator  is defined by

 |ϕ1 ⟩ = |ϕ1 ⟩ and  |ϕ2 ⟩ = − |ϕ2 ⟩ ,

where |ϕ1 ⟩ and |ϕ2 ⟩ are orthonormal.

(a) Do these states |ϕ1 ⟩ and |ϕ2 ⟩ form a basis?

(b) Consider the operator B̂ = |ϕ1 ⟩ ⟨ϕ2 |. Is B̂ Hermitian? Show that B̂ 2 = 0. (c)
Show that the products B̂ B̂ † and B̂ † B̂ are projection operators.
(c) Show that the operator B̂ B̂ † − B̂ † B̂ is unitary.
(d) Consider Ĉ = B̂ B̂ † + B̂ † B̂. Show that Ĉ |ϕ1 ⟩ = |ϕ1 ⟩ and Ĉ |ϕ2 ⟩ = |ϕ2 ⟩.

6. Consider an operator

 = |ϕ1 ⟩ ⟨ϕ1 | + |ϕ2 ⟩ ⟨ϕ2 | + |ϕ3 ⟩ ⟨ϕ3 | − i|ϕ1 ⟩ ⟨ϕ2 | − |ϕ1 ⟩ ⟨ϕ3 | + i|ϕ2 ⟩ ⟨ϕ1 | − |ϕ3 ⟩ ⟨ϕ1 | ,

where |ϕ1 ⟩ , |ϕ2 ⟩, and |ϕ3 ⟩ form a complete and orthonormal basis.

(a) Is  Hermitian? Calculate Â2 . Is it a projection operator?

(b) Find the 3 × 3 matrix representing  in the |ϕ1 ⟩ , |ϕ2 ⟩ , |ϕ3 ⟩ basis.