Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-quantum-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2014/3/b/solution

Set , and . The self-adjointness of implies
The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality followed by gives
Both inequalities must be equalities. The exact conditions are and are linearly dependent, and . Equivalently, equality holds if either vector is zero; when both are nonzero it holds precisely when
The zero-vector cases matter: they saturate the inequality but cannot all be expressed by solving for as a multiple of . The real-part condition can also be written , using the anticommutator. This is the uncentered second-moment commutator inequality.

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