Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 34A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
For part (a), the adjoint operator isUsing the canonical commutation relation ,Thus and are the annihilation and creation operators of the quantum harmonic oscillator.
For part (b), writeSince and , differentiation of the unitary conjugation givesThe initial conditions are and . Solving this pair of linear ordinary differential equations gives the Bogoliubov transformationThis is the transformation implemented by the single-mode squeeze operator.
For part (c), invert the definition of :The transformation above impliesThe ground state has zero position and momentum means and variances and . Hence the squeezed vacuum state hasThe reciprocal squeezing factors cancel, soThe state therefore continues to saturate the Heisenberg uncertainty relation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 4 22H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 1 8F a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The adjoint operator is defined bySince is a nonzero finite-dimensional complex vector space, has an eigenvector with eigenvalue . Normality givesfor every , by expanding both sides and using . Taking yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 335 3 iii Solution 2026-09-28
For the Volterra integration operatorthe adjoint operator isSince , direct integration givesSimilarly,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 thereforeWriting out the inner product and the singular functions makes this explicit:The factors suppress the unstable reciprocal growth at high index.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 106 3 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Factor as in part b(v). Then Parseval identity for a Hilbertian basis and Cauchy-Schwarz inequality giveThe defining series for the operator trace is therefore absolutely convergent and satisfies .
For unit vectors , the adjoint operator of is , andHence and part b(iii), followed by Parseval, givesScaling proves . A second use of Parseval yieldswhich proves the asserted rank-one operator formulas.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 335 2 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
At fixed incident direction and wavenumber, defineTaking the complex conjugate of the kernel givesThe 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 ii Paper 4 22I a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Riesz representation theorem says that for every bounded linear functional on a Hilbert space , there is a unique such thatand .
For and fixed , the mapis a bounded linear functional, withRiesz therefore gives a unique vector, denoted , such thatfor every . Uniqueness in the representation theorem shows that is linear. Moreover,so the adjoint operator belongs to and .
The adjoint operator , when it exists, is defined byfor 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 , soThus 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 givesThe two products areConsequently the quantum harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian operator isThe identity now givesThus . 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 areThese 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 producesTo 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 . ThereforeThe expectation of also vanishes, either by lowering and orthogonality or by conjugating the adjoint relation.
Solving the ladder definitions for and givesso . Both terms have zero expectation by the preceding orthogonality. Since , the oscillator form of the quantum virial theorem isExpectations 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 givesThe finite geometric sum satisfies if in , and zero otherwise: in the second case it equals . ThereforeThere 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 giveApplying the definition of the adjoint operator, the coefficient of in is exactly this expression. ThusEquivalently . 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, yieldsThe 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 givesThe finite geometric sum satisfies if in , and zero otherwise: in the second case it equals . ThereforeThere 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 giveApplying the definition of the adjoint operator, the coefficient of in is exactly this expression. ThusEquivalently . 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, yieldsThe 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 givesAll 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 isUse the canonical commutation relation with the order of factors preserved:Subtracting the first product from the second provesThese 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 isSince a squared norm is nonnegative, every nonzero energy eigenstate has . Moreover exactly when .
On a smooth wavefunction , the position operator and momentum operator giveThus the canonical commutation relation is . Since and are self-adjoint operators and are real, the adjoint operator of isExpanding 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 , givesSo 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 provesEvery 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 equationIts solutions are . With , the supplied Gaussian integral givesTaking fixes an irrelevant global phase. ConsequentlyThe 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, , givesWrite . Bilinearity and antisymmetry of the commutator, together with the canonical commutation relations, give . HenceThe terms involving two position operators or two momentum operators vanish by the canonical commutation relations. Finally, reversing products under the adjoint operator, , gives . ThereforeHere 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 implyA vector of zero norm is zero, so . Part (i) givesThe commutator also gives , while . Applying the other product identity to this unnormalized vector,ThereforeThese 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 givesThe lowered vector is nonzero, since the adjoint operator identity givesFinally, 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 givesMatching the , and identity operator coefficients in yieldsConsequently all real solutions areThe 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.