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Lecture 10

The document explains the concepts of Hermitian and unitary operators in quantum mechanics, highlighting their properties and significance in representing physical observables. It also discusses commutators and their algebra, including the Jacobi identity and the relationship between Hermitian operators and their commutators. Additionally, the document covers functions of operators, commutators involving these functions, and the uncertainty relation in quantum mechanics, emphasizing the implications of these mathematical constructs.

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Chgfhy Chfhy
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33 views4 pages

Lecture 10

The document explains the concepts of Hermitian and unitary operators in quantum mechanics, highlighting their properties and significance in representing physical observables. It also discusses commutators and their algebra, including the Jacobi identity and the relationship between Hermitian operators and their commutators. Additionally, the document covers functions of operators, commutators involving these functions, and the uncertainty relation in quantum mechanics, emphasizing the implications of these mathematical constructs.

Uploaded by

Chgfhy Chfhy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Hermitian and unitary operator

An operator is Hermitian if it is self-adjoint:


A+ = A
Or equivalently: < ψ|A| φ> = (<φ|A|ψ>)* and so 〈A〉= < ψ|A|ψ> is real.
An operator is skew-Hermitian if B+ = -B and 〈B〉= < ψ|B|ψ> is imaginary.
In quantum mechanics, the expectation of any physical quantity has to
be real and hence an operator corresponds to a physical observable
must be Hermitian. For example, momentum operator and
Hamiltonian are Hermitian.

An operator is Unitary if its inverse equal to its adjoints:


U-1 = U+ or UU+ = U+U = I
In quantum mechanics, unitary operator is used for change of basis.
Commutators
Operators do not commute.
Commutator: [A, B] = AB-BA
Anti-commutator: {A, B} = AB+BA
Algebra of commutators:
1. Antisymmetric: [A, B] = -[B, A]
2. Bilinear: [αA+βB+γC+…. , X] = α [A,X]+ β[B,X]+ γ[C,X]+….
[X, αA+βB+γC+…. ] = α[X, A]+ β[X, B]+ γ[X, C]+….
3. Adjoint: [A, B]+ = [B+, A+]
4. Distributive: [A, BC] = [A,B]C+B[A,C]
[BC, A] = [B,A]C+B[C,A]
5. n −1
[A, B ] = ∑ B j[A, B]A n − j−1
n

j= 0
n −1
[A , B] = ∑ A n − j−1[A, B]B j
n

j= 0

6. Jacobi identity: [A, [B, C]] + [B, [C, A]] + [ C, [A, B]] = 0
7. If A and B are Hermitian, [A, B] is skew-Hermitian and {A, B} is Hermitian.
8. Note that [A, B]=0 and [B, C]=0 does NOT imply [B, C]=0.
Function of operators
If f(A) is a “function” of A. We can Taylor expand f(A) in a power series of A:
∞
f(A) = ∑ a n A n
n =0
∞
∴[f(A)] = ∑ a n (A + ) n = f * (A + )
+ *

n =0
For example,
∞
a nAn 1 1
e aA
=∑ = I + aA + a 2 A 2 + a 3 A 3 + L
n =0 n! 2 6
+ +
(e A ) + = e A and (eiA ) + = e -iA
Commutators involving function of operators :
1. [A, f(A)] = 0
A+B
2. e e ≠ e
A B
but e A e B = e A + Be[A,B]/2
1 1
3. e -A Be A = B + [A, B] + [A, [A, B]] + [A,[A, [A, B]]] + L
2! 3!
Commutators and uncertainty relation
Define operator
δA=A- 〈A〉 where 〈A〉=<ψ|A|ψ> and A2 =<ψ|A2| ψ>
Let δA|ψ>=|χ> and δB |ψ>=|φ>. Note that if A and B are Hermitian, so are δA and δB.

δA=δA+ ⇒ 〈δA2〉 = 〈δAδA〉 =<ψ|δAδA|ψ> =<ψ|δA+δA|ψ> =<χ|χ> ⇒ 〈δA2〉 = <χ|χ>


Similarly, 〈δB2〉= <φ |φ> and 〈δAδB〉 = <χ| φ>
Schwarz inequality: <χ|χ> <φ |φ> ≥ | <χ| φ>|2 ⇒ 〈δA2〉〈δB2〉 ≥ 〈δAδB〉2
Now, δAδB = 1
2 (δAδB - δBδA) + 12 (δAδB + δBδA)
= 1
2 [δA, δB] + 12 {δA, δB}
= 1
[A, B] + 12 {δA, δB}
1
424
2
3 14243
Im aginary Re al
2 2
∴ δAδB = 14 [A, B] + {δA, δB}
1 2
2
2
δA 2 δB2 ≥ δAδB ⇒ δA 2 δB 2 ≥ + {δA, δB}
2 1 1 2
4 [A, B] 2
2
⇒ δA 2 δB2 ≥ 1
4 [A, B]

Define ∆A = δA 2 = (A - A ) 2
= A2 - A
2
and ∆B = δ B2
2
∴ ∆A 2 ∆B2 ≥ 14 [A, B] ⇒ ∆A∆B ≥ 12 [A, B]

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