Oscillator ladder-operator sign convention
ID: oscillator-ladder-operator-sign-convention
For real coefficients in , imposing , and givesIndeed the adjoint operator condition makes the two coefficients equal and the two coefficients opposite. The canonical commutation relation gives , and matching the coefficients of and fixes their magnitudes. Both signs change together. The conventional creation and annihilation operators choose ; the other sign is an equivalent phase convention for the number states.
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