Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2004/iii/paper-53/1/2/solution

The mixed-state expression in the PDF contains a mismatched bra in its second term. A probability mixture of the stated orthonormal eigenvectors must be interpreted as . Taken literally with a different bra, it need not be Hermitian or positive and is not generally a density operator.
Let . A quantum channel and its measurement probabilities are linear in the density operator, so averaging the pure-state results gives
Therefore the same frequency estimator yields
More generally, after the controlled operation and before the final Hadamard gate, the reduced control density operator is
This follows by a partial trace of the control blocks , , and . It proves the mixed-state Hadamard-test quadratures for any auxiliary density operator, even one not diagonal in the eigenbasis. Conjugation by the final Hadamard gate maps to and to , explaining the imaginary-part sign.

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