In units , a bilinear Hamiltonian control system has
where the Hermitian matrices are fixed, and the real functions are admissible control inputs. The corresponding vector or density operator dynamics are or . The dynamics are linear in the state at fixed input and affine in the inputs at fixed state; this is the bilinear terminology.
The reachable set from an initial state at time is . With freely chosen duration, take . Controllability means every allowed target is reachable from every allowed initial state. The allowed space and phase convention must be specified. For closed quantum control, density operators remain on their initial unitary orbit of a density operator, rather than becoming arbitrary density operators with different eigenvalues.