Physics 517

Homework Set #2 Due in class 10/18/11

300 pts

Autumn 2011

1. (80 pts) Derivation of Schwarz inequality (Sakurai, 1.18 a and b): a. First argue that ( | + |) (| + | ) 0 for any complex number . Chose in such a way that this inequality reduces to the Schwarz inequality. The left hand side as written is simply | for | = | + | . As the inner product of any state with itself is positive, the stated inequality holds. Expanding out the left hand side we get | + ||2 | + ( | + c.c.) = 0 (1)

where c.c. stands for complex conjugate (of whats written). To obtain the strongest inequality we want to minimize the left hand side with respect to . First we x its magnitude and vary the argument. Only the third term varies, and we minimize it by choosing | = ||| | | . That is, to minize an expression of the form z + z for xed magnitude of z, we need to chose z to be a real, negative number. Inserting this in (1) we now have a quadratic function of || whose minimum is at || = | | |/ | . Inserting this in the inequality we nd | | | |2 0. |

Multiplying by | we nd the Schwartz inequality. b. Show that the equality sign in the generalized uncertainty relation (B)2 (A)2 holds if the state in question satises A| = B| with purely imaginary. We are asked to consider the case A| = iB| , 1 | [A, B] |2 4 (2)

where is real (and A and B are Hermitian). This implies that (A)2 and [A, B]

= 2 (B)2

= [A, B]

= 2i (B)2

Thus we nd that the generalized uncertainty principle is saturated (A)2

(B)2

= 2 (B)2

= | (1/2)[A, B] | .

2. (50 pts) Sakurai 1.12. A spin 1/2 system is known to be in an eigenstate of S n with eigenvalue /2, where n is a unit vector in the xz-plane that makes h an angle with the z-axis. a Suppose Sx is measured. What is the probability of getting + /2? h From last weeks HW (Sakurai 1.9) we know that the initial state is |S n; + = c|+ + s| , c = cos(/2) s = sin(/2) . Since we are measuring Sx we need to re-express this in the corresponding basis, using | = (|Sx ; + |Sx ; )/ 2 . Thus we nd |S n; + = |Sx ; + (c + s)/ 2 + |Sx , (c s)/ 2 . The probability of obtaining + /2 is thus h 1 + sin (c + s)2 = . 2 2 This equals 1/2 when = 0, (initial state is | ), equals 1 when = /2 (initial state is |Sx ; + ), and equals 0 when = 3/2 (initial state is |Sx ; ), all as required. b Evaluate the dispersion in Sx , that is (Sx Sx )2 . Check that your answer makes sense for the special cases = 0, /2. To calculate the dispersion, we rst need Sx

(c + s)2 h (c s)2 h = sin 2 2 2 2

(which is the geometric projection of a spin-vector of length /2 onto h 2 the x-axis). Then, using, Sx = h2 /4, we nd (Sx Sx
2 ) 2 = Sx

Sx

2 h 2 h (1 sin2 ) = cos2 . 4 4

This vanishes for = /2, 3/2, when the initial spin is exactly aligned along the x-axis, so there is no dispersion, and is maximal for = 0, when the spin is orthogonal to the x-axis. 3. (50 pts) Evaluate both sides of the generalized uncertainty principle eq. (2) for the following two examples and see that it holds. If equality is found, comment on why this is. 1. A = Sx , B = Sy and | = |+ ; We know that Sx

= Sy

= 0,

because we know that a beam of |+ states splits evenly in xand y-oriented SG experiments. Alternatively we know that the matrix representations of Sx and Sy are o-diagonal, and so do 2 2 not connect +| to |+ . We also know that Sx = Sy = h2 /4. So the left-hand side of the uncertainty relation becomes l.h.s. = (A)2 (B)2 = 2 h 4
2

. = h/2, to nd .

For the r.h.s. we use [Sx , Sy ] = i Sz , and Sz h r.h.s. = 1 1 2 | [A, B] | = 4 4 2 h 2

Thus the uncertainty relation is saturated. This is an example of the kind discussed in problem 1b [Sakurai 1.18(b)] since Sx |+ and Sy |+ are proportional with an imaginary proportionality constant. 2. A = Sx , B = Sy and | = |Sx ; + . Here the l.h.s. vanishes because (A)2 = 0, while the r.h.s. vanishes because Sz = 0. So the uncertainty principle is again saturated. This is an example of the general result that if | is an eigenket of either A or B then it is easy to see that both sides of the uncertainty principle vanish. 4. (40 pts) A few facts about operators: 3

a. If |i and |j are two dierent eigenstates of an operator A, under what circumstances is the state |i + |j an eigenstate of A? A(|i + |j ) = A(i|i + j|j ) where A|i = i|i and A|j j|j since these states are eigenstates. For the right hand side to be a number times |i + |j , we need i = j, that is the two eigenkets need to be degenerate (have the same eigenvalue). We encountered this in class before. b. Show if [A, B] = c, where c is a complex number, then [A, B n ] = cnB n1 Proof by induction. Assume [A, B n1 ] = c(n 1)B n2 . for some n 1. We are given it is true for n 1 = 1 (it also obviously holds for n 1 = 0 as everyting commutes with the identity operator). Given this, we want to show the relation is also true for n. [A, B n ] = AB n1 BB n1 BA = c(n1)B n2 B+B n1 (ABBA) = c(n1)B n1 +B n1 c = cnB n1

5.(40 pts) Sakurai 1.16 - anticommutation and compatibility: Two hermitian operators anticommute: {A, B} = AB + BA = 0. Is it possible to have a simultaneously (that is, common) eigenket of A and B? Prove or illustrate your assertion. If A and B have a common eigenket |a, b , then one has 0 = (AB + BA)|a, b = |a, b 2ab . This is only possible if 0 1 0 a and/or b vanishes. An example is 1 0 0 i 0 0 0 and i 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

which anticommute and have a simultaneous eigenvector (0, 0, 1)T with eigenvalue 0. 6. (40 pts) If A is hermitian, show that exp(iA) is unitary, taking care to justify all steps.

A unitary matrix satises U U = 1 = U U . Here we have U = exp(iA). First we note that U = exp(iA). One way to see this is to act on eigenkets of A: U |a = |a exp(ia) exp(ia) a| a|U . Next we note that exp(A) exp(B) = exp(A + B) if [A, B] = 0. This follows by writing the exponential as a power seriessince the operators commute, the same argument as for exponentials of numbers applies. Alternatively, one can act on the common eigenkets |a, b that are guaranteed to exist, and see that the relation holds for all eigenkets, and thus is an operator relation. Putting this together, we have: U U = eiA eiA = eiA+iA = 1 = eiA eiA = U U .
D.C.