Hermitian Operators Eigenvectors of a Hermitian operator

• Definition: an operator is said to be Hermitian if – Note: all eigenvectors are defined only up to a
it satisfies: A†=A multiplicative c-number constant
– Alternatively called ‘self adjoint’ A am = am am ! A(c am )= am (c am )
– In QM we will see that all observable properties
must be represented by Hermitian operators • Thus we can choose the normalization !am|am"=1

• Theorem: all eigenvalues of a Hermitian • THEOREM: all eigenvectors corresponding to

operator are real distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal
– Proof: – Proof:
• Start from Eigenvalue Eq.: A am = am am • Start from eigenvalue equation: A am = am am

• Take the H.c. (of both sides): am A† = am! am • Take H.c. with m $ n: an A = an an

• Use A†=A: am A = am! am • Combine to give:

an A am = an an am = am an am
• Combine to give:
am A am = am! am am = am am am • This can be written as: ( an ! am ) an am = 0

• Since !am |am" # 0 it follows that • So either am = an in which case they are not
distinct, or !am|an"=0, which means the
am! = am eigenvectors are orthogonal
 Completeness of Eigenvectors of a
Hermitian operator
• THEOREM: If an operator in an M-dimensional
Hilbert space has M distinct eigenvalues (i.e.
no degeneracy), then its eigenvectors form a
`complete set’ of unit vectors (i.e a complete
‘basis’)
– Proof:
M orthonormal vectors must span an
M-dimensional space.
• Thus we can use them to form a
representation of the identity operator:
Degeneracy
• Definition: If there are at least two linearly
independent eigenvectors associated with the
same eigenvalue, then the eigenvalue is
degenerate.
– The `degree of degeneracy’ of an eigenvalue is
the number of linearly independent eigenvectors
that are associated with it
• Let dm be the degeneracy of the mth eigenvalue
• Then dm is the dimension of the degenerate
subspace
• Example: The d=2 case
– Let’s refer to the two linearly independent
eigenvectors |%n" and |&n"
• There is some operator W such that for some n
we have:
W |%n"= %n|%n" and W | &n"= &n| &n"
• Also we choose to normalize these states:
!%n|%n"=1 and ! &n| &n"=1
• Linear independence means !%n |&n" # 1.
– If they are not orthogonal (!%n |&n" # 0), we can
always use Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization to
get an orthonormal set
 Phy851/Lecture 4: Basis sets and
Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalization representations
• Procedure:
– Let • A `basis’ is a set of orthogonal unit vectors in
!n ,1 " !n
Hilbert space
– A second orthogonal vector is then
– analogous to choosing a coordinate system in
3D space
! n " $n $n ! n
$ n ,2 # – A basis is a complete set of unit vectors that
! n " $n $n ! n spans the state space
• Proof:

$n ! n " $n $n $n ! n • Basis sets come in two flavors: ‘discrete’ and

$n ,1 $n ,2 #
! n " $n $n ! n ‘continuous’

– but !n !n = 1 – A discrete basis is what we have been

– Therefore !n ,1 !n ,2 = 0 considering so far. The unit vectors can be
labeled by integers, e.g. {|1", |2",…, |M"}, where
– Can be continued for higher degree of degeneracy M can be either finite or infinite
– Analogy in 3-d: • The number of basis vectors is either finite or
r r r r ‘countable infinity’.
r = ex rx + ey ry + ez rz
r r r r r r r r r r
r = ex (ex " r ) + ey (ey " r ) + ez (ez " r ) – A continuous basis is a generalization whereby
r r r r r the unit vectors are labeled by real numbers,
r " ex (ex # r ) $ ex r " ex ex r # ex e.g. {|x"}; xmin< x < xmax, where the upper and
• Result: From M linearly independent degenerate lower bounds can be either finite or infinite
eigenvectors we can always form M orthonormal
! • The number of basis vectors is `uncountable
unit vectors which span the M-dimensional infinity’.
degenerate subspace.
! !
– If this is done, then the eigenvectors of a Hermitian
operator form a complete basis even with degeneracy
present
 Properties of basis vectors Example 1
property discrete continuous • Consider the relation: !' = A!
– To know |' _ " or |'" you must know its
orthogonality j k = ! jk x x! = # ( x " x!)
components in some basis
normalization j j =1 x x =! – Here we will go from the abstract form to the
specific relation between components
state " = ! j cj " = ! dx x " (x )
expansion j

component/ # " "= A #

cj " j ! ! (x ) " x ! Abstract equation: # = A#
wavefunction
projector 1= ! j j 1 = ! dx x x Project onto a single
j j # " "= j A #
unit vector: j # = j A#
operator A = ! j A jk k A = ! dx dx" x A(x, x") x"
expansion jk

Matrix element Insert the projector: j # " "= ! j A k k #

A jk ! j A k A(x, x!) " x A x! j # = k! j A k k #
k

12 = 1 Translate to vector
c"j "= ! A jk ck
2 notation: c j = k! A jk ck
[ " dx x x ] = " dx dx # x x x# x# k

= " dx dx # x $ (x % x #) x #
Same procedure for #" = A #
= " dx x x continuous basis:
x #" = x A #
x #" = $ dx " x A x " x " #
! # "( x ) = $ dx "A( x, x ")# ( x ")

!
 Example 2: Combining different basis
sets in a single expression
Change of Basis
• Let’s assume we know the components of |(" in the • Let the sets {|1",|2",|3",…} and {|u1",|u2",|u3",…} be
basis {|1",|2",|3",… } two different orthonormal basis sets
– cj)!j|("
• Let’s suppose that we only know the wavefunction
• Suppose we know the components of |'" in the
of |'" in the continuous basis {|x"}
basis {|1",|2",|3",…}, this means we know the
– '(x) )!x|'" elements {cj}:
• In addition, we only know the matrix elements of A
in the alternate continuous basis {|k"}
– A(k,k') )!k|A|k'" • How do we find the components {Cj} of |'" in the
alternate basis {|u1",|u2",|u3",…}
• How would we compute the matrix element !(|A|'"?

" A! = " A! • This is easily handled with Dirac notation:

" A! = % " j j A!
= ! # j j A" j
j
= % & dx " j j A x x !
= # $ dx " j j A x x ! j
j
= % & dx dk dk # " j j k k A k # k # x x !
= $ % dx dk dk # " j j k k A k # k # x x ! j

j = % & dx dk dk # c $j j k A(k , k #) k # x ! (x )
j
= $ % dx dk dk " c #j j k A(k , k ") k " x ! (x )
j
• The change of basis is accomplished by multiplying
the original column vector by a transformation
• We see that in order to compute this number, we matrix U.
need the inner-products !j|k" and !k|'"

– These are the transformation coefficients to go from

one basis to another
 The Transformation matrix Example: 2-D rotation
• The transformation matrix looks like this • Let’s do a familiar problem using the new
notation
& u1 1 u1 2 u1 3 L# • Consider a clockwise rotation of 2-dimensional
$ ! Cartesian coordinates:
$ u 1 u2 2 u2 3 L!
U =$ 2
u 1 u3 2 u3 3 L!
$ 3 !
$ M M M O!"
%
• The columns of U are the components of the
old unit vectors in the new basis

• If we specify at least one basis set in physical

terms, then we can define other basis sets by
specifying the elements of the transformation
matrix
 Continued Summary
• Basis sets can be continuous or discrete
– The important equations are:

1= ! j j 1 = ! dx x x
Insert j
projector
j k = ! jk x x! = # ( x " x!)
onto ‘known’
basis
• Change of basis is simple with Dirac notation:
1. Write unknown quantity
2. Insert projector onto known basis
3. Evaluate the transformation matrix elements
4. Perform the required summations

Cj = uj "
= ! uj k k "
k

= ! u j k ck
j