Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 60 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Two finite-dimensional Hermitian matrices are related by unitary conjugation if and only if they have the same multiset of eigenvalues. Necessity follows because conjugation preserves the characteristic polynomial; sufficiency follows by mapping orthonormal eigenbases in the spectral theorem. Consequentlyand no member of the first pair is equivalent to a member of the second. For an explicit example, the Hadamard gate gives and . Multiplying by a scalar phase does not change either conjugation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 60 1 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the unitary conjugation as . The identity component is unchanged, and the generalized Bloch vector transforms byThese coefficients are real, by the same trace argument as in part (a). Unitary conjugation preserves the Hilbert-Schmidt inner product, so the conjugated traceless generators form another orthonormal basis. It follows that . The unitary group is connected, , and the determinant of an orthogonal matrix is ; hence . Thus Hamiltonian evolution rotates the generalized Bloch vector by an element of .
Equivalently, in units , the Von Neumann equation givesCyclicity of the trace shows , so is a real skew-symmetric matrix. This is the generator form of Hamiltonian rotations of Bloch vectors, valid also for a time-dependent Quantum Hamiltonian. For , Hamiltonians generally realize only a proper subgroup of all rotations of this real space; they preserve the whole density-operator spectrum, not merely its purity of a density operator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 60 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The two density operators have the same eigenvalues , so a permutation of basis vectors makes them unitarily equivalent. A dynamical equivalence must additionally respect the symplectic dynamical symmetry in quantum control.
Define the symplectic dual . For a unitary preserving , both and hold. In particular , and thereforeIt follows by cyclicity of the trace that the symplectic invariant of a density operatoris unchanged by every reachable unitary conjugation. The given reverses the diagonal order, soConsequentlyHence the states are not dynamically equivalent, despite their identical ordinary spectra. This works for all the allowed values, including , and for any subgroup satisfying the symmetry in part (c).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 63 4 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the Fourier transform convention . Since , it is real, so . The positive-frequency cutoff therefore also eliminates frequencies at or below . Normalization gives .
For spectral filtering of Hamiltonian terms, chooseIn an energy eigenbasis, its matrix elements areAt the frequency is zero, so the normalization preserves the ground-state expectation:The spectral filter is a positive weighted average of unitary conjugations; in particular the integral is bounded in operator norm by . We can choose it even without an extra assumed tail bound: the evenization of a nonnegative bandlimited filter proved in part (e) produces another admissible spectral filter with the same type of positive-time decay. Make that choice consistently in all the filtered terms and shell definitions below.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 81 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Make a bipartite spin rotation: rotate every odd site's spin through about the axis, using . This unitary conjugation preserves the spin commutation relations. At an odd site it sends to and exchanges the spin raising operator and spin lowering operator.
Each bond joins one rotated and one unrotated site. In the transformed operators,ThusThe selected Néel state becomes an all-up reference state, so a single Holstein–Primakoff transformation convention works on both sublattices.
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.
Set . Unitary conjugation givesThe operator negates and fixes every vector in orthogonal to it. It is therefore the reflection in a hyperplane whose normal is .