For part (a), the adjoint operator is
Using the canonical commutation relation ,
Thus and are the annihilation and creation operators of the quantum harmonic oscillator.
For part (b), write
Since and , differentiation of the unitary conjugation gives
The initial conditions are and . Solving this pair of linear ordinary differential equations gives the Bogoliubov transformation
This is the transformation implemented by the single-mode squeeze operator.
For part (c), invert the definition of :
The transformation above implies
The ground state has zero position and momentum means and variances and . Hence the squeezed vacuum state has
The reciprocal squeezing factors cancel, so
The state therefore continues to saturate the Heisenberg uncertainty relation.
For fixed , the map is a bounded functional. The Riesz representation theorem gives a unique vector representing it. Linearity, uniqueness, and make the unique bounded adjoint operator.
The adjoint operator is defined by
Since is a nonzero finite-dimensional complex vector space, has an eigenvector with eigenvalue . Normality gives
for every , by expanding both sides and using . Taking yields
For the Volterra integration operator
the adjoint operator is
Since , direct integration gives
Similarly,
because . The half-integer sine and cosine families are orthonormal bases of , so is a singular system of a compact operator.
The Tikhonov solution for noisy data is therefore
Writing out the inner product and the singular functions makes this explicit:
The factors suppress the unstable reciprocal growth at high index.
Factor as in part b(v). Then Parseval identity for a Hilbertian basis and Cauchy-Schwarz inequality give
The defining series for the operator trace is therefore absolutely convergent and satisfies .
For unit vectors , the adjoint operator of is , and
Hence and part b(iii), followed by Parseval, gives
Scaling proves . A second use of Parseval yields
which proves the asserted rank-one operator formulas.
Use
The adjoint operator is consequently
With a unitary Fourier normalization, this is simply .
At fixed incident direction and wavenumber, define
Taking the complex conjugate of the kernel gives
The least-squares minimizer of satisfies the normal equation for a linear inverse problem . Fourier inversion on the measured transfer-vector set is exactly the corresponding Moore--Penrose reconstruction ; hence the formal solution in part (i) is the minimum-norm least-squares solution when the data are incomplete or inconsistent.
The Riesz representation theorem says that for every bounded linear functional on a Hilbert space , there is a unique such that
and .
For and fixed , the map
is a bounded linear functional, with
Riesz therefore gives a unique vector, denoted , such that
for every . Uniqueness in the representation theorem shows that is linear. Moreover,
so the adjoint operator belongs to and .
If is an orthonormal basis and is the matrix of , then the matrix of is
its entries are .
The adjoint operator , when it exists, is defined by
for all vectors in the relevant domains. This convention takes the inner product to be conjugate-linear in its first argument. Nondegeneracy makes the adjoint unique.
For the standard complex inner product , the equality becomes for every , so
Thus the matrix adjoint is the Hermitian conjugate, not merely the transpose unless the entries are real. In a basis with positive Hermitian Gram matrix , the same definition instead gives , making the dependence on the chosen inner product explicit.
Take and use the usual common invariant domain for the position operator, momentum operator and their products. Since and are self-adjoint,
Expanding the commutator and using gives
The two products are
Consequently the quantum harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian operator is
The identity now gives
Thus . Each ladder image is an eigenstate if it is nonzero; a zero vector is not an eigenstate. The distinction is needed for lowering the ground state. Their squared norms are
These follow by moving the operator to the other side of the inner product with its adjoint operator. The first inequality implies for every eigenstate.
For a lowest-energy quantum state, must vanish, since otherwise it would be an eigenstate with lower energy. The norm formula then forces . Raising never vanishes and produces
To see that there are no other eigenvalues, repeatedly lower any eigenstate. If were not a nonnegative integer, there would be a final nonzero lowered quantum state with energy strictly between and . Its lower image would have positive norm but energy below the lower bound, a contradiction. Thus every eigenstate reaches the ground eigenspace after an integer number of lowerings. On a positive level, lowering is injective by its strictly positive norm factor. The assumed one-dimensional ground eigenspace therefore makes every eigenspace one-dimensional, so the displayed raised quantum states give all eigenstates up to nonzero multiples. If is normalized, their norms are .
For , has eigenvalue , distinct from . eigenstates of a self-adjoint operator with distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal: applying self-adjointness to their inner product gives . Therefore
The expectation of also vanishes, either by lowering and orthogonality or by conjugating the adjoint relation.
Solving the ladder definitions for and gives
so . Both terms have zero expectation by the preceding orthogonality. Since , the oscillator form of the quantum virial theorem is
Expectations here are divided by if the eigenstate is not normalized; no normalization assumption was used in the ladder argument.
Use the Dirac notation convention that the inner product is linear in the ket. Orthonormality of the computational basis gives
The finite geometric sum satisfies if in , and zero otherwise: in the second case it equals . Therefore
There are such orthonormal vectors in an -dimensional space, so they form a basis. The inverse expansion is verified by the same sum:
This is the unitary discrete Fourier transform and its inverse.
For the basis-copying isometry, the images are orthonormal, so is a linear isometry, with . Its matrix elements give
Applying the definition of the adjoint operator, the coefficient of in is exactly this expression. Thus
Equivalently . The adjoint of basis copying acts as pointwise multiplication of coefficient functions.
For the Fourier transform of a basis-copying isometry, the normalization matters:
Hence . Taking adjoint matrix elements, or expanding both output factors in the inverse Fourier basis, yields
The printed formula is missing the factor . There are mutually orthogonal terms in its sum, so without that factor its right side has norm , whereas its left side has norm one because is an isometry. The formula above is the normalized identity consistent with all the preceding definitions. For the distinction disappears, but the no-cloning assertion is substantive for .
The normalized output is not . Its coefficient matrix pairs every Fourier label with ; tracing out either factor gives . Thus it is a maximally entangled state, while two clones of a pure Fourier quantum state would have pure reduced quantum states. A copier for the computational basis therefore does not copy the Fourier basis.
More generally, suppose a linear isometry with a fixed blank input could clone every normalized quantum state. Its restriction to would define a linear map with on every computational basis quantum state. Linearity forces , which has just been shown to fail on Fourier quantum states. This proves the no-cloning theorem in the pure-quantum state isometric setting.
The inner-product proof makes the obstruction independent of the chosen basis. If an isometry cloned two quantum states with overlap , preservation of inner products would give , or, allowing irrelevant output phases, . Distinct nonorthogonal rays have , which is impossible. Even allowing an output environment does not help: unitary evolution would give , the same contradiction. Arbitrary unknown quantum states cannot be cloned, although any fixed orthonormal basis can be copied and a one-dimensional quantum state space is trivial.
Use the Dirac notation convention that the inner product is linear in the ket. Orthonormality of the computational basis gives
The finite geometric sum satisfies if in , and zero otherwise: in the second case it equals . Therefore
There are such orthonormal vectors in an -dimensional space, so they form a basis. The inverse expansion is verified by the same sum:
This is the unitary discrete Fourier transform and its inverse.
For the basis-copying isometry, the images are orthonormal, so is a linear isometry, with . Its matrix elements give
Applying the definition of the adjoint operator, the coefficient of in is exactly this expression. Thus
Equivalently . The adjoint of basis copying acts as pointwise multiplication of coefficient functions.
For the Fourier transform of a basis-copying isometry, the normalization matters:
Hence . Taking adjoint matrix elements, or expanding both output factors in the inverse Fourier basis, yields
The printed formula is missing the factor . There are mutually orthogonal terms in its sum, so without that factor its right side has norm , whereas its left side has norm one because is an isometry. The formula above is the normalized identity consistent with all the preceding definitions. For the distinction disappears, but the no-cloning assertion is substantive for .
The normalized output is not . Its coefficient matrix pairs every Fourier label with ; tracing out either factor gives . Thus it is a maximally entangled state, while two clones of a pure Fourier quantum state would have pure reduced quantum states. A copier for the computational basis therefore does not copy the Fourier basis.
More generally, suppose a linear isometry with a fixed blank input could clone every normalized quantum state. Its restriction to would define a linear map with on every computational basis quantum state. Linearity forces , which has just been shown to fail on Fourier quantum states. This proves the no-cloning theorem in the pure-quantum state isometric setting.
The inner-product proof makes the obstruction independent of the chosen basis. If an isometry cloned two quantum states with overlap , preservation of inner products would give , or, allowing irrelevant output phases, . Distinct nonorthogonal rays have , which is impossible. Even allowing an output environment does not help: unitary evolution would give , the same contradiction. Arbitrary unknown quantum states cannot be cloned, although any fixed orthonormal basis can be copied and a one-dimensional quantum state space is trivial.
The commutator of two linear operators is . Write for the adjoint operator, using the inner product convention linear in its second argument. Since and ,
Thus the commutator is anti-self-adjoint. With , conjugation of the scalar gives
All products are understood on the stated common operator domain; for physical unbounded linear operators, the state must lie in the relevant product domains and have the finite moments used below.
The position operator and momentum operator are self-adjoint operators, so the adjoint operator is
Use the canonical commutation relation with the order of factors preserved:
Subtracting the first product from the second proves
These creation and annihilation operators are unscaled and carry the paper's phase convention; their commutator is not the unit-normalized oscillator commutator.
The squared norm is obtained by moving the adjoint operator to the other side of the inner product:
For an energy eigenstate, this is
Since a squared norm is nonnegative, every nonzero energy eigenstate has . Moreover exactly when .
On a smooth wavefunction , the position operator and momentum operator give
Thus the canonical commutation relation is . Since and are self-adjoint operators and are real, the adjoint operator of is
Expanding the products in the stated order is essential:
Subtracting gives . These identities initially hold on smooth rapidly decaying functions, which contain the quantum harmonic oscillator energy eigenstates used below.
The factorization also proves a lower bound: for a normalized energy eigenstate ,
Therefore . The commutator product rule, applied to , gives
So a nonzero application of the creation operator raises the energy eigenvalue by , while the annihilation operator lowers it by the same amount.
Begin with any energy eigenstate, whose existence is assumed. Repeated lowering must terminate: otherwise it would eventually produce a nonzero energy eigenstate below , contradicting the lower bound. More explicitly, if with integer and , the first lowering steps are nonzero. If , one further step is also nonzero by its positive squared norm and has energy , an impossibility. Thus and the last state satisfies . This proves
Every level exists as well: , so repeated raising from never vanishes. The same factorization bounds the energy expectation of any normalized state in the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator form domain below by , proving that the terminated state really is a ground state.
To find its probability density, solve the first-order equation
Its solutions are . With , the supplied Gaussian integral gives
Taking fixes an irrelevant global phase. Consequently
The ground-state energy is positive even though the potential minimum is zero: it is the oscillator's zero-point energy.
First apply the commutator product rule in the form :
Repeated use of the commutator product rule gives, for ,
This is the commutator with powers of an eigenoperator. For , the commutator with the identity operator is zero, agreeing with the formula.
Each is unchanged by taking the adjoint operator, so in this algebra. Taking the adjoint of a commutator yields . By antisymmetry,
In particular, each creation operator raises the number operator eigenvalue by one, and each annihilation operator lowers it by one.
The position operators and momentum operators are self-adjoint operators. Using conjugate linearity of the adjoint operator, , gives
Write . Bilinearity and antisymmetry of the commutator, together with the canonical commutation relations, give . Hence
The terms involving two position operators or two momentum operators vanish by the canonical commutation relations. Finally, reversing products under the adjoint operator, , gives . Therefore
Here is the identity operator. These are the relations for two independent pairs of creation and annihilation operators. The operator algebra in this question is understood on a common invariant operator domain, such as finite linear combinations of the number states constructed in part (c).
For , the adjoint operator relation and the given product identity imply
A vector of zero norm is zero, so . Part (i) gives
The commutator also gives , while . Applying the other product identity to this unnormalized vector,
Therefore
These are the two angular momentum ladder endpoints of a spin one-half pair. In particular, has unit norm, and because .
The angular momentum eigenstates have eigenvalue , where the angular momentum quantum number is . For each , the magnetic quantum number runs in unit steps from to . Here that magnetic quantum number is , so only half-integer are compatible:
Integer cannot contain a eigenvalue . Applying the angular momentum lowering operator and using gives
The lowered vector is nonzero, since the adjoint operator identity gives
Finally, is a self-adjoint operator, so its eigenstates for distinct eigenvalues are orthogonal. Explicitly,
and hence .
Since and are self-adjoint operators, the adjoint operator relation requires and . Thus and . The canonical commutation relation gives
Matching the , and identity operator coefficients in yields
Consequently all real solutions are
The conventional creation and annihilation operators use . The other choice multiplies both by minus one and satisfies all the given equations. This harmless freedom is the oscillator ladder-operator sign convention; the subsequent formulas use the positive choice in both coordinates.