Maximally mixed state (${\rho }_{\ast }=I_N/N$)

The maximally mixed density operator on an $N$-dimensional Hilbert space assigns equal weights to every vector of any orthonormal basis. It is invariant under every unitary operator. Its purity is $\mathrm{Tr}({\rho }_{\ast }^2)=1/N$, the minimum possible because the nonnegative eigenvalues sum to one and obey the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. For $N>1$ it is a mixed state; for $N=1$ it is the sole pure state. A rank-$k$ projector has probability $k/N$ in this state.

Let $P$ be a rank-$k$ projector with $0<k<N$. No unitary operator can map every pure state whose $P$ probability equals $k/N$ to a state with the same fixed smaller probability. Average $\sqrt{k/N}|g⟩\pm \sqrt{1-k/N}|b⟩$ over good and bad basis vectors and both signs. The average density operator is the maximally mixed state, so every unitary preserves its average $P$ probability. This contradicts a strictly smaller probability for all states in the ensemble. A preparation tailored to one known starting state is a different resource and is used in exact amplitude amplification.