Quantum information and computing

Lecture 2: Essential quantum mechanics

Jani-Petri Martikainen
Jani-Petri.Martikainen@helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/jamartik
Department of Physical Sciences
University of Helsinki
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 1/46
Disclaimer
This lecture is going to extremely boring, for everyone
involved.
The faster we go through this, the faster we can go on
with our lives.
I promise to wake you up in the end.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 2/46
Vector spaces
Basic objects are vector spaces, we are interested in C
n
,
the space of all n-tuples of complex numbers (z
1
. . . z
n
)
elements of vector space are called vectors, we might
use notation

z
1
.
.
.
z
n

(1)
Addition takes vectors to another vectors

z
1
.
.
.
z
n

1
.
.
.
z

z
1
+ z

1
.
.
.
z
n
+ z

(2)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 3/46
Vector spaces
Multiplication by a scalar
z

z
1
.
.
.
z
n

zz
1
.
.
.
zz
n

(3)
In QM the vector is usually denoted with a ket-notation
[), where is used to label the vector in question.
zero vector: [) + 0 = [), note we do not use [0)
notation for the zero vector, since in physics this usually
means something different.
To make typing easier: (z
1
. . . z
n
) implies the column
matrix with entries z
1
. . . z
n
W is a vector subspace of V if it is a vector space and
closed under scalar multiplication and addition.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 4/46
Bases and linear independence
a vector space is spanned by a set of vectors [v
1
), . . .,
[v
n
) such that any vector in V can be written as a
[v) =

i
a
i
[v
i
)
For example C
2
: [v
1
) = (1, 0) and [v
2
) = (0, 1)
basis vectors are not unique: [v
1
) = (1, 1)/

2 and
[v
2
) = (1, 1)/

2 would also be OK
vectors [v
1
), . . ., [v
n
) are linearly dependent if
a
1
[v
1
) + a
n
[v
n
) = 0 (4)
for some a
i
, with a
i
,= 0 for at least one i
Otherwise, vectors are linearly independent and can
form a basis of the vector space
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 5/46
Bases...operators and matrices
Number of basis elements is the dimension of the vector
space
we will just deal with nite dimensional vector spaces
a linear operator between vector spaces V and W is
dened as a function A : V W which is linear in its
inputs i.e.
A(

i
a
i
[v
i
)) =

i
a
i
A[v
i
) (5)
Identity operator I: I[v) [v) for all [v) in V
zero operator: 0[v) = 0
Once the action of linear A on the basis vectors is
known, we know the action for all vectors in V
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 6/46
Operators and matrices
V, W, X are vector spaces and A : V W B : W X
are linear operators. BA is the composition of B with A,
dened by (BA)([v)) = B(A[v))
matrix representations of linear operators: m by n complex
matrix with entries A
ij
sends a vector in C
n
into C
m
under matrix multiplication
How to nd a matrix representation for a linear
operator?: Linear operator (from V to W) dened
through its action on the basis vectors
A[v
j
) =

i
A
ij
[w
i
) (6)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 7/46
Operators and matrices
The matrix entries A
ij
form the matrix representation of
the linear operator A...note: had to dene input and
output vector space basis.
Pauli matrices:

0
= I =

1 0
0 1

x
= X =

0 1
1 0

(7)

y
= Y =

0 i
i 0

z
= Z =

1 0
0 1

(8)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 8/46
Inner product
inner product takes two input vectors and produces a
complex number: ([v), [w))
In quantum mechanics inner product of [v) and [w) is
denoted by v[w)
The bra-vector v[ is the dual vector to [v)
the matrix representation of dual vectors is just a row
vector
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 9/46
Inner product requirements
1. (, ) is linear in the second argument:
([v),

i
[w
i
)) =

i
([v), [w)) (9)
2. ([v), [w)) = ([w), [v))

3. ([v), [v)) 0 with equality if only if [v) = 0

4. For example, C
n
:
((y
1
y
n
), (z
1
z
n
)) =

i
y

i
z
i
= [y

1
y

n
]

z
1
.
.
.
z
n

(10)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 10/46
Inner product
Hilbert space: vector space with inner product
Vectors are orthogonal if their inner product is zero.
norm: | [v) |

v[v)
vector is normalized if its norm is 1
orthonormal basis is a set of normalized orthogonal
basis vectors
From now on matrix representations of linear operators
are assumed to be dened with respect to orthonormal
bases.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 11/46
Gram-Schmidt
Gram-Schmidt procedure to construct an orthonormal
basis: [w
1
), . . . [w
n
) is some basis set.
Dene [v
1
) [w
1
)/ | [w
1
) |
for 1 k n 1 dene the new basis vector inductively
[v
k+1
)
[w
k+1
)

k
i=1
v
i
[w
k+1
)[v
i
)
| [w
k+1
)

k
i=1
v
i
[w
k+1
)[v
i
) |
(11)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 12/46
Inner product...outer product
if [w) =

w
i
[i) and [v) =

v
j
[j) representation of
vectors with respect to orthonormal basis then since
i[j) =
ij
v[w) =

i
v

i
w
i
Outer product operator [w)v[ takes a vector from V to
W:
([w)v[)([v

)) = v[v

)[w) (12)
take [v) =

i
v
i
[i), then
(

[i)i[)[v) =

[i)i[v) = [v) (13)

so

[i)i[ = I which is the completeness relation
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 13/46
...Cauchy-Schwartz inequality
Can use completeness to represent operators in the
outer product notation.
Outer product representation of A: A = I
W
AI
V
=

ij
[w
j
)w
j
[A[v
i
)v
i
[ =

ij
w
j
[A[v
i
)[w
j
)v
i
[
Cauchy-Schwartz inequality:
[v[w)[
2
v[v)w[w) (14)
Proof (idea): using Gram-Schmidt decomposition
construct an orthonormal basis [i) so that [w)/

w[w)
is the rst element. Use completeness

[i)i[ = I and
drop some non-negative terms from
v[v)w[w) =

v[i)i[v)w[w)... (15)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 14/46
Eigenvectors and eigenvalues
Diagonal representation or spectral decomposition of A:
A =

i
[i)i[ (16)
where
i
are the eigenvalues and [i) are the
eigenvectors
Operator is diagonalizable if it has a diagonal
representation
For example: Z =

1 0
0 1

= [0)0[ [1)1[
If several eigenvalues are the same...eigenspace is
degenerate
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 15/46
Hermitian operators
Hermitian conjugate or adjoint A

of the operator A:
([v), A[w)) = (A

[v), [w))
(AB)

= B

dene [v)

v[...(A[v))

= v[A

In matrix representation: A

= (A

)
T
where
T
indicates
transpose
An operator which is its own adjoint is Hermitian or
self-adjoint
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 16/46
Projectors
Projectors are an important class of Hermitian
operators
Suppose W is the k-dimensional subspace of
n-dimensional vector space V . We can construct a
basis [1), . . . , [n) for V so that [1), . . . , [k) is the basis for
W
Projector into subspace W: P =

k
i=1
[i)i[
Orthogonal complement: Q = I P
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 17/46
Unitary operators and tensor products
Unitary operator if U

U = I = UU

Important (among other things) because they preserve

inner products between vectors
(U[v), U[w)) = v[U

U[w) = v[I[w) = v[w) (17)

tensor product: put vector spaces together to great
bigger vector spaces V W...
the elements of V W are linear combinations of
tensor products [v) [w) of elements [v) in V and [w)
in W.
If [i) and [j) are orthonormal bases then [i) [j) is a
basis for V W...we will often abbreviate [i) [j) = [ij)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 18/46
Tensor products properties
1. z([v) [w)) = (z[v)) [w) = [v) (z[w))
2. ([v
1
) +[v
2
)) [w) = [v
1
) [w) +[v
2
) [w)
3. [v) ([w
1
) +[w
2
)) = [v) [w
1
) +[v) [w
2
)
A and B operators in V and W, dene
A B([v) [w)) A[v) B[w) (18)
ensures linearity
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 19/46
Tensor products
A is mn matrix and B is p q matrix
A B

A
11
B A
12
B A
1n
B
A
21
B A
22
B A
2n
B
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A
m1
B A
m2
B A
mn
B

(19)
this is mp nq beast
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 20/46
Tensor product example

1
2

2
3

2
3
4
6

(20)
X Y =

0 Y 1 Y
1 Y 0 Y

0 0 0 i
0 0 i 0
0 i 0 0
i 0 0 0

(21)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 21/46
Operator functions
If A =

a[a)a[ then
f(A) =

f(a)[a)a[ (22)
For example,
exp(Z) =

0
0 e

(23)
Trace: Tr(A) =

i
A
ii
Trace is invariant under similarity transformation i.e.
when A UAU

with U unitary
Simple example on blackboard...
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 22/46
Commutators and anti-commutators
Commutator: [A, B] = AB BA
anti-commutator: A, B = AB + BA
If hermitian A and B commute i.e. [A, B] = 0, then there
exists an orthonormal basis in which both A and B are
diagonal.
for Pauli matrices: [X, Y ] = 2iZ, [Y, Z] = 2iX, and
[Z, X] = 2iY
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 23/46
Quantum mechanics
On its own QM does not tell you what laws of a physical
system must obey.
It provides a mathematical and conceptual framework
for the development of such laws.
Postulates of QM were derived after a long process of
trial and error...lots of guessing involved so dont be
surprised if the motivation is not always clear.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 24/46
Quantum mechanics
Postulate 1: A system is completely described by its state
vector in the systems Hilbert space (i.e. unit vector in
the state space)
qubit has a 2-dimensional state space with basis [0) and
[1). The state vector is generally [) = a[0) + b[1)
What the systems Hilbert space is, is not always clear.
That depends...i.e. where do you draw the line where
the system ends?
Weird classically: we cannot directly observe the state
vector.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 25/46
Quantum mechanics
Postulate 2: Evolution of a closed system is described by
a unitary transformation.
[(t
2
)) = U(t
2
, t
1
)[(t
1
)) (24)
QM does not tell what U is...that depends... some
examples X is called a bit ip: [0) [1) and [1) [0),
on the other hand Z is called a phase ip: [1) [1)
Hadamard gate:
H =
1

1 1
1 1

(25)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 26/46
Quantum mechanics
Postulate 2: Evolution of a closed system is described by
the Schrdinger equation
i
[)
t
= H[) (26)
spectral decomposition H =

E[E)E[ is the system

Hamiltonian E are the energy eigenvalues
Note: even non-closed systems can be sometimes
described (or well approximated) by a Hamiltonian. For
example, under some conditions an atom in a laser eld
can be described by a Hamiltonian which can be tuned
experimentally.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 27/46
Quantum mechanics: Measurement
Postulate 3: Measurements described by a
measurement operators M
m
, where index m refers to
the measurement outcome that may occur. If [) is the
state just before the measurement then the probability
of an outcome m is
p(m) = [M

m
M
m
[) (27)
and after the measurement
[)
M
m
[)

[M

m
M
m
[)
(28)
Completeness of measurement operators:

m
M

m
M
m
= I
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 28/46
Quantum mechanics: Measurement
Completeness simply implies that the probabilities of
the measurement outcomes must sum to 1
Measure a qubit in its computational basis: M
0
= [0)0[
and M
1
= [1)1[
p(0) = [M

0
M
0
[) = [a[
2
, M
0
[)/[a[ = a/[a[[0)
Perhaps it is possible to derive the postulate 3 from
the 1st and the 2nd postulate. Seems likely, but to prove
it is hard.
Classical things are easy to distinguish. In QM
distinguishing reliably non-orthogonal state vectors is
fundamentally impossible [
2
) = [
1
) + [)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 29/46
Projective measurements
Special case of the general measurement
Projective measurement is described by an observable,
M, a Hermitian operator. This observable can be
decomposed as
M =

m
mP
m
, (29)
where P
m
is a projector onto eigenspace of M with
eigenvalue m
Measurement outcomes correspond to the eigenvalues
m, probability of m is p(m) = [P
m
[) and just after
measurement the state is projected into
P
m
[)

p(m)
(30)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 30/46
Projective measurements
Easy to calculate average values of measurements:
E(M) =

mp(m) =

m[P
m
[)
=

[(mP
m
)[) = [M[) (31)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 31/46
Heisenbergs uncertainty principle
A and B are Hermitian and suppose [AB[) = x + iy.
Then [[A, B][) = 2iy and [A, B[) = 2x
This implies:
[[[A, B][)[
2
+[[A, B[)[
2
= 4[[AB[)[
2
(32)
By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality:
[[AB[)[
2
[A
2
[)[B
2
[)...combine with Eq. 32
and drop a non-negative term
[[ [A, B] [)[
2
4[A
2
[)[B
2
[) (33)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 32/46
Heisenbergs uncertainty principle
More normal form: suppose C and D are observables
and substitute A = C C) and B = D D)
we obtain the Heisenbergs uncertainty principle
(C)(D)
[[ [C, D] [)[
2
, (34)
where (C) =

(C C))
2
is the standard deviation
Example, operators X and Y measured for the quantum
state [0): [X, Y ] = 2iZ so
(X)(Y ) 0[Z[0) = 1 (35)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 33/46
POVM measurement
Measurement postulate has two elements: a) gives a
rule to describe measurement statistics b) gives a rule
for the post-measurement state
For some applications, post-measurement state is not
of great interest. Probabilities for the measurement
outcomes crucial. For example, experiment where the
system is measured once at the end of the experiment
Analysis in terms of the POVM
(positive-operator-valued-measure) formalism
Dene E
m
M

m
M
m
whose expectation value gives the
probability for the outcome m
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 34/46
POVM measurement
E
m
is a positive operator (probabilities are positive) and

E
m
= I
E
m
are known as the POVM elements associated with
the experiment and the complete set E
m
is known as
the POVM
For a projective measurement: P
m
P
m

=
mm

P
m
and
the POVM elements are the same as the measurement
operators, E
m
= P

m
P
m
= P
m
Note: Projective measurement is repeatable i.e. if you
measure once you project into a state which does not
change when you repeat the measurement. I.e. you will
always measure the same result.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 35/46
POVM measurement
The repeatability suggests than many measurements in
QM are NOT projective measurements. (use silvered
screen to measure the position of the photon...photon
destroyed..cannot repeat the measurement of the
photons position)
Example: Alice gives Bob a qubit which is either
[
1
) = [0) or [
2
) = ([0) +[1))/

2. Bob can never be

absolutely certain of which state he received.
However, he can perform a measurement which
distinguishes the states some of the time, but NEVER
makes an error of mis-identication.
Consider POVM with elements: E
1
=

2/(1 +

2)[1)1[,
E
2
=

2/(1 +

2)([0) [1))(0[ 1[)/2, and

E
3
= I E
1
E
2
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 36/46
POVM measurement
These operators are complete and positive...POVM OK.
Suppose Bob got [
1
) = [0) and he performs a
measurement described by the POVM E
1
, E
2
, E
3
.
There is zero probability for outcome E
1
since

1
[E
1
[
1
) = 0...Bob knows that if the outcome is E
1
he
must have got [
2
) from Alice.
Also, since [
2
) is orthogonal with ([0) [1))/

2
outcome E
2
must mean he received [
1
)
Sometimes, Bob obtains an outcome E
3
in which case
he cannot infer anything about the states identity
However! He never makes a mistake in identication.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 37/46
Phase
If we have a state exp(i)[) we will nd that the
measurement statistics of this state and the state [)
are identical. For this reason, from the observational
point of view global phase factor plays no role.
Relative phase is different: consider states ([0) +[1))/

2
and ([0) [1))/

2. Magnitude of the amplitudes are the

same, but differ in sign (or more generally by a phase
factor exp(i))
Relative phases may vary from amplitude to amplitude
and the concept of a relative phase is basis-dependent.
This means that states with different relative phases
can give rise to different measurement statistics.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 38/46
QM: Composite systems
Postulate 4: The state space of a composite system is
the tensor product of the component system state
spaces.
If we have systems 1 . . . n and systems are prepared in
[
i
) with i = 1 . . . n, then the joint state of the system is
[
1
) [
2
) [
n
)
Heuristically: It seems natural that if [A) is permissible
state in A and [B) is permissible state in B, then [A)[B)
should be permissible in AB.
This combined with the superposition principle (that is if
states [x) and [y) are OK, the also [x) + [y) is OK)
gives you the tensor product postulate.
We will use a subscript notation so that X
2
for example
refers to the Pauli
x
acting on the 2nd qubit.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 39/46
General measurement
Lets show that we can implement general
measurements with unitary evolution and projective
measurements.
Suppose we have a quantum state in state space Q and
we wish to perform measurement described by
measurement operators M
n
on the system Q
Introduce an ancilla system, with state space M with an
orthonormal basis states [m) with one-to-one
correspondence with the possible measurement
outcomes.
Think of ancilla system as a mathematical device or as
an extra physical quantum system which has a state space
with the required properties.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 40/46
General measurement
Let [0) be any xed state of M and dene U through
U[)[0) =

m
M
m
[)[m) (36)
Using orthonormality of [m) states and the
completeness relation

m
M

m
M
m
= I we see that U
preserves inner products:
[0[U

U[)[0) =

m,m

[M

m
M
m

[)m[m

)
=

m
[M

m
M
m
[) = [) (37)
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 41/46
General measurement
From this it follows that U can be extended to a unitary
operator on the space QM, which we also denote by
U.
Suppose we perform a projective measurement on the
two systems described by P
m
= I
Q
[m)m[...outcome
m with probability
p(m) = [0[U

P
m
U[)[0)
=

,m

[M

[(I [m)m[)M
m

[)[m

)
= [M

m
M
m
[) (38)
as given by the measurement postulate!
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 42/46
General measurement
The joint state after the measurement of [m) is given by
P
m
U[)[0)

[U

P
m
U[)
=
M
m
[)[m)

[M

m
M
m
[)
(39)
just as described by the measurement postulate!
Thus unitary dynamics, projective measurements, and
the ability to introduce ancilla systems, together allow
any general measurement of the form described by the
measurement postulate.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 43/46
Entangled states
Consider a state
[) =
[00) +[11)

2
(40)
There are NO single qubit states [a) and [b) such that
[) = [a)[b)...the state is then called entangled
Entangled states play a crucial role in quantum
computation and information
EPR thought experiment based on the possibility of
entangled states with parts separated by a large
distance.
Measurement of, for example, 0 at one end,
immediately implies that the one must have a state [0)
at the other end.
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 44/46
Quantum mechanics
We cannot directly observe the state vector.
It is as if there is a hidden world in QM which we can
access only imperfectly.
Observing the state vector, typically changes it. (Play
tennis, and each time you look at the ball, its position
changes.)
Bells inequalities showed that we are stuck with
counter-intuitive nature of QM.
Which is GREAT!
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 45/46
Exercises
There are exercises next week! Download from the
course web page...return by 1600 on Monday.
WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!
Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki http://theory.physics.helsinki.fi/kvanttilaskenta/ p. 46/46