Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-introduction-to-quantum-information-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/2/d/solution

For a Hermitian matrix , the spectral theorem gives , with real eigenvalues and a unitary matrix . Hence
The square root here is the unique positive square root of an operator. Taking the trace, which is unchanged by unitary similarity, proves
For a density matrix, all eigenvalues are nonnegative and sum to one. Its trace norm is therefore
The absolute values cannot be omitted for a general Hermitian matrix, since positive and negative eigenvalues can cancel in its trace but never in its trace norm.

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