The low-energy localized-well basis gives the tight-binding model
A Bloch state with coefficients is an eigenstate because the two neighbouring coefficients add to . Thus
Here is a Bloch wavenumber; physical momentum is , and writing for physical momentum would require . Spectral evolution of these eigenstates is exactly the Fourier integral in the preceding solution. The negative hopping lowers the symmetric state, and coherent quantum tunnelling spreads a formerly degenerate family of localized levels into a band of width . Using the printed positive Euclidean prefactor instead would give on-site energy , showing its contradiction directly.
A homogeneous static saddle minimizes for . With and ,
The mean-field Bose-Einstein condensate has a macroscopic coherent occupation of the uniform mode. Its continuous particle-number phase symmetry is , the circle group generated by particle number. Choosing one phase breaks it, and the saddle manifold is a circle. For , the constrained minimum is the vacuum , so the condensed saddle requires the stated positive-density regime.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking is understood through a phase-selected thermodynamic description: an exact finite-volume number eigenstate has vanishing field expectation. The resulting Goldstone boson is a gapless phase/sound mode, while phase gradients carry the superfluid velocity . This is the saddle-point conclusion requested, not a proof of true condensate order in every dimension or temperature. Long-wavelength phase fluctuations can invalidate the assumed order, as quantified below.
For a normalized state and a self-adjoint operator with finite second moment, the quantum uncertainty is defined by . Since is real,
In an energy eigenstate of the quantum harmonic oscillator,
Discarding the nonnegative squared means proves the stated lower bound. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is , following from . Applying the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality to the two variance contributions gives
Here is the oscillator frequency. The bound is the ground-state energy; equality requires zero means and the appropriate minimum-uncertainty width.
Since is a unitary operator, its eigenstates form an orthonormal basis. Expand , with eigenphases . By linearity, the unmeasured quantum phase estimation output is
This is generally an entangled state, not a phase label attached to an unchanged pure system state. The distinct eigenvalues give distinct phase labels, so a computational basis measurement yields with Born rule probability and leaves in the system register. Before measurement, all relative phases remain coherent; that is essential for the following spectral transformation. If phases were degenerate, a measured label would instead select the corresponding eigenspace component.
The interaction picture removes the evolution generated by : . Differentiating the Schrodinger equation gives , with . The integral equation, iterated once, gives
Distinct-energy eigenstates are orthogonal. Their transition amplitude is therefore . Squaring its modulus gives
The first-order amplitude produces a second-order probability.
For the isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator, parity makes for . Rotational symmetry and the given radial integral give . Thus , and the energy gap is . The time integral is . Consequently
The perturbation picks the excitation polarized along the third coordinate, rather than an arbitrary member of the degenerate first excited level.
The Hamiltonian is the sum of three commuting one-dimensional harmonic-oscillator Hamiltonians. Its product eigenstates are
with energies
Equivalently, the level with has energy , as in the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator.
Up to normalization, the ground-state wavefunction is
It is radial, so is parallel to the position vector. Since the orbital angular momentum is , every component of annihilates this state. Therefore
and the ground state has .
The first excited level has and is spanned by
The state
satisfies . Applying the ladder operators gives
Hence convenient eigenstates are
up to normalization and irrelevant overall phases.
Finally, the isotropic Hamiltonian is rotationally invariant. The rotational invariance of a central-potential Hamiltonian gives
These commuting self-adjoint operators can be simultaneously diagonalized within each energy eigenspace, which is why joint eigenstates of must exist.
Inside the infinite square well, the time-independent Schrodinger equation has Dirichlet boundary conditions at and . Its normalized energy eigenstates and energy eigenvalues are
An -qubit stabilizer state is the unique simultaneous eigenstate of an abelian group of Pauli operators having elements and not containing . The group is the state's stabilizer group; equivalently, it is generated by independent commuting Hermitian Pauli operators.
Apply exact quantum phase estimation to with the supplied eigenstate . Since
the promise that the phase has an -bit representation makes an -qubit control register recover exactly. Multiplying by modulo gives . Equivalently, phase estimation may be run on , whose eigenphase is modulo one.
Write the local Hamiltonian as . Since its terms commute, their matrix exponentials factor exactly:
Each factor acts on at most two qubits and can be compiled over a fixed universal quantum gate set to operator norm error at most . The telescoping bound for products of operators then bounds the total error by the sum of the factor errors, at most . Because is polynomial in and the Solovay--Kitaev theorem gives gate count polynomial in for each fixed-dimensional factor, this is an efficient commuting local Hamiltonian simulation. Finally, the eigenvalue equation implies
so remains an eigenstate and its eigenvalue is .
Since and , the diagonal Hamiltonian is
with the identity on every unlisted qubit. Each computational-basis state is an eigenstate, and its eigenvalue is minus the cost of the corresponding cut. Part i supplies cost four, while the assumed bound rules out a lower energy. Thus the ground-state energy is . For the assignment , one ground state is
Its bitwise complement is another ground state, as are the basis states corresponding to the other maximum cuts.
The parity of a wavefunction is its eigenvalue under spatial reflection: for even parity and for odd parity. If , the Hamiltonian commutes with reflection, so its energy eigenspaces admit a parity eigenbasis. In particular, every nondegenerate bound-state energy eigenfunction has definite parity; within a degenerate scattering eigenspace one must choose the even and odd linear combinations.
Write and . Then
Thus is unchanged. It is the spin-one-half singlet state, so joint rotations leave it invariant. Equivalently, direct use of the Pauli matrices shows
It is therefore an eigenstate of every Cartesian component of the combined spin, with eigenvalue zero.
Using the states from part (a),
The Born rule therefore gives
After the equal-sign outcomes the state is respectively or . These are triplet states, hence eigenstates of with eigenvalue
The opposite-sign product states are each a nontrivial linear combination of the singlet and the triplet, so they are not eigenstates of .
Insert the stated expansion into the Time-dependent Schrodinger equation
When the derivative acts on each free phase, its energy factor is cancelled by the action of on the corresponding eigenstate. The remaining terms obey
Division by gives
Positive-phase fractional power of a unitary operator Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
Choose eigenphase representatives for a unitary operator and a positive integer . Its positive-phase fractional power acts on each eigenstate by . This branch uses arguments in and can differ from the usual complex principal branch using . For exactly dyadic phases, exact quantum phase estimation stores each label in a coherent phase register; bitwise phase gates multiply it by the required phase, and inverse phase estimation removes the labels. Keeping the phase register unmeasured preserves arbitrary eigenstate superpositions and resets the ancilla qubits. With only controlled- and controlled- primitives, the direct method uses oracle calls for exact phase bits.
An energy and orbital angular momentum eigenstate for a real two-dimensional central potential can be chosen with integer and real radial function . Its radial equation is
Quantum degeneracy permits other stationary states, including , which are not single angular exponentials. Separation of variables supplies a basis rather than describing every superposition in a degenerate eigenspace.