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Set $X=\rho -\sigma$. The trace distance is $D(\rho ,\sigma )=\frac{1}{2}\Vert X{\Vert }_1$, where $\Vert X{\Vert }_1=\mathrm{Tr}\sqrt{X^{†}X}$. Since $X$ is a Hermitian operator, its spectral decomposition is $X={\sum }_j{x}_j|j⟩⟨j|$. Define its positive part of a Hermitian operator and negative part of a Hermitian operator byThey are positive semidefinite operators, satisfy $X=Q-R$ and $QR=0$, and obey $|X|=Q+R$. ThereforeThe states have equal trace, so $\mathrm{Tr}X=0$ and $\mathrm{Tr}Q=\mathrm{Tr}R=D(\rho ,\sigma )$. This is the spectral-parts formula for trace distance.

The positive part of a Hermitian operator and negative part of a Hermitian operator are the positive operatorsThus $X=X_{+}-X_{-}$ and $X_{+}{X}_{-}=0$. In this convention the negative part itself is nonnegative. This is the positive-negative decomposition of the Hermitian operator.

The operator absolute value is defined by the unique positive operator square rootThe scalar identity $|\lambda |=\max (\lambda ,0)+\max (-\lambda ,0)$ applied in the spectral decomposition proves

For a Hermitian operator with spectral decomposition $X={\sum }_i{\lambda }_i{P}_i$, its positive part is $X_{+}={\sum }_i\max ({\lambda }_i,0)P_i=(|X|+X)/2$. It is a positive operator supported on the positive spectral subspace. Together with the negative part of a Hermitian operator it satisfies $X=X_{+}-X_{-}$ and $|X|=X_{+}+X_{-}$.

For the Hermitian difference $X=\rho -\sigma$, define its positive part of a Hermitian operator $Q=X_{+}$ and negative part of a Hermitian operator $R=X_{-}$. Their supports are orthogonal and $|X|=Q+R$. Equal traces give $\mathrm{Tr}Q=\mathrm{Tr}R$, so the trace distance is both $\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{Tr}Q+\mathrm{Tr}R)$ and $\mathrm{Tr}Q$. This explains why the positive spectral projector attains the variational characterization of trace distance.