Quantum Entangelments

Prof. Leonard Susskind, Stanford University

Álvaro Moreno Vallori

 Contents

1 Previous mathematical concepts 2

1. Hilbert spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Dirac’s bra-ket notation: basic concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Bra-ket notation and linear operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 States and observables 5

1. Definitions and basic concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Eigenvectors and eigenvalues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1
 Chapter 1

Previous mathematical concepts

1. Hilbert spaces

Definition 1.1. Let V be a vector space over a field F ⊆ C. V is an inner product space if
there is a function (inner product) "·|·# : V × V −→ F 1 that satisfies the following properties
for all vectors x, y, z ∈ V and all scalars α, β ∈ F :
1) "x|y# = "y|x#∗ .
2) "αx + βy|z# = α"x|z# + β"y|z#.
3) "x|x# ≥ 0, and "x|x# = 0 ⇐⇒ x = 0.

Definition 1.2. Let V be an inner product space over a field K ⊆ C. A norm on V is

!
a function || · || : V −→ R defined by the inner product as ||x|| = "x, x#, that satisfies the
following properties for all vectors x, y ∈ V and for all scalar α ∈ K:
1) ||αx|| = |α| ||x||.
2) ||x + y|| ≤ ||x|| + ||y||
3) ||x|| ≥ 0, and ||x|| = 0 ⇐⇒ x = 0
Notice that then V is a metric space, where the distance is defined by the norm as d(x, y) =
||x − y||.

Definition 1.3. Let M be a metric space. M is a complete space if and only if every
Cauchy sequence converges with respect to this norm to an element in M .

1
We use here Dirac’s bra-ket notation !x|y" instead of the usual notation !x, y".

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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts

Definition 1.4. Let V be a vector space over a field F ⊆ C. V is a Hilbert space if and
only if V is an inner product space that is also a complete metric space with respect to the
distance function induced by the inner product.

2. Dirac’s bra-ket notation: basic concepts

Definition 2.1. Given a complex Hilbert space2 H, every vector in H is called a ket, and
is written as |ψ#. If two vectors correspond to the same quantum state, they are written using
the same ket. A ket |ψ# ∈ H can be viewed as a column vector written out in coordinates:
 
a1
 
 
 a2 
|ψ# = 
 ..

 : a1 , a2 , . . . , an ∈ C
 . 
 
an

Definition 2.3. Every ket |ψ# ∈ H has a dual bra in H, written as "ψ|, which is the
hermitian conjugate of |ψ#, that is, a row vector containing the complex conjugate of the
elements of |ψ#:
( )
"ψ| = a∗1 a∗2 . . . a∗n

Definition 2.3. The function "ψ| : H −→ C defined by "ψ|(|φ#) = "ψ|φ# is a continuos

linear functional or linear form (i.e. a linear map (linear function) from a vector space to its
field of scalars) where "ψ|φ# denotes the inner product of |φ# with "ψ|.

2
That is, a Hilbert space over the complex field C. During all this course, we will always consider H as a
finite-dimensional complex Hilbert space.

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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts

3. Bra-ket notation and linear operators

Definition 3.1. Let A be a matrix in Mm×n (C), such that

 
a11 a12 ··· a1n
 
 
 a21 a22 · · · a2n 
A=
 .. .. .. ..


 . . . . 
 
am1 am2 · · · amn

then the hermitian conjugate of A is a matrix A† ∈ Mn×m (C)such that

 
(a11 )∗ (a21 )∗ ··· (am1 )∗
 
 
†
 (a12 )∗ (a22 )∗ · · · (am2 )∗ 
A =
 .. .. .. ..


 . . . . 
 
(a1n )∗ (a2n )∗ · · · (amn )∗

Note 3.2. If A : H −→ H is a linear operator then A can be represented as a matrix3 . In

fact, a matrix is a linear operator and viceversa 4 .

Note 3.3. If A is a matrix, we can apply A to a ket |ψ# ∈ H to obtain the ket A|ψ#.
Matrices can be also viewed as acting on bras. Composing the bra "φ| ∈ H with the ma-
trix A results in the bra "φ|A, defined as a linear functional "φ|A : H −→ C by the rule
("φ|A)(|ψ#) = "φ|(A|ψ#). This expression is commonly written as "φ|A|ψ#.

Definition 3.4. A given matrix A is a hermitian matrix 5 if and only if satisfies A† = A.

Proposition 3.5. If A is a matrix and |ψ#, |φ# ∈ H, then:

1) "ψ|A|φ# = "φ|A† |ψ#∗
2) If A is hermitian, "ψ|A|ψ# = "ψ|A|ψ#∗ , and therefore "ψ|A|ψ# ∈ R.

3
During this course, we will just assume any matrix is a linear operator A : H −→ H.
4
This is only true when H is finite dimensional, otherwise a linear operator cannot be represented as a
matrix.
5
More generally, if we have just a linear operator, this definition is equivalent by saying the operator is
self-adjoint.
4
 Chapter 2

States and observables

1. Definitions and basic concepts

Definition 1.1. Given a quantum system, an observable is a property of the system state
than can be determined by some sequence of physical operations.

Definition 1.2. A quantum state is set of observables that fully describes a quantum sys-
tem. Quantum states can be either pure or mixed. A pure quantum state is one that can be
obtained in a measurement. A mixed quantum state is the state of a quantum system while
it is not observed.

Axiom 1.3. Any given physical system is identified with some Hilbert space, such that
each non-zero ket in the Hilbert space corresponds to a pure quantum state1 . In other words,
each pure state is a ray in the Hilbert space. In adittion, two kets that differ only by a nonzero
complex scalar α correspond to the same state: |ψ# ≈ α|ψ#.

Axiom 1.4. If H is describing a quantum system, any given observable is identified with
a hermitian matrix A.

Definition 1.5. Given a hermitian matrix A and given |ψ# ∈ H, the expression "ψ|A|ψ#
gives the expectation value or average value of the observable A in a the state |ψ#. In this
case, we can just write the expression as "A#ψ .
1
Notice that if a quantum state in the given system is defined by n obersvables, then the Hilbert space has
dimension n.

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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts

Definition 1.6. If {|e1 #, |e2 #, . . . |en #} is a basis of a H, then any ket |ψ# ∈ H can be
expressed as a linear combination of the basis kets:

n
*
∃c1 , c2 , . . . , cn ∈ C / |ψ# = c1 |ei #
i=1

In physical terms, this is described by saying that |ψ# has been expressed as a quantum super-
position of the states |ei #.

Proposition 1.7. If H describes a physical system which can be in the pure states
|φ1 #, |φ2 # . . . |φm # ∈ H, then the general mixed state of the system while is not observed is
defined by a the ket
|ψ# = c1 |φ1 # + c2 |φ2 # + . . . + cm |φm #

where c1 , c2 , . . . cn ∈ C. In this linear combination, for all i ∈ {1, 2, . . . , m} ci c∗i represent the
probability that the state of the system is |φ#. In adittion, the ket should be normalized, i.e.
the sum of the probabilities should be one:

n
*
ci c∗i = 1
i=1

Moreover, |ψ# can be represented by a column vector |c# containing the coefficients ci in a m-
dimensional complex Hilbert space, where each dimension is identified with each pure state.
In this case the fact that |c# is a normalized vector can be written "c|c# = 1.

Examples 1.8.
1) If we bring an electron into a vertical magnetic field, the spin will orientate either in the
direction of the field or in the opposite direction, so the state of the electron, when measured,
will be either |up# or |down#. In this case the kets are elements of a 2-dimensional complex
Hilbert space H. The spin of the electron, while not measured, may be any normalized ket
|ψ# = c1 |up#+c2 |down#, where c1 , c2 ∈ C. According to the proposition 1.7., the column vector
( )T
c1 c2 represents the state |ψ# in a 2-dimensional complex Hilbert space. For example,
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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts
( )T
the vector √1 , √1
represent a state in which the electron has the same probability of
2 2
,2 +
being up or down, since √12 = 12 .

2) If we have an electron in a Neon athom, its state, when measured, is described by its
quantum numbers. The possible pure states are:
                  
1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
                  
 0   0   0   0  1   1   1   1   1   1 
                  
 , , ,  , , , , , 
 0   0   0   0   0   0   −1   −1   −1   −1 
                  
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 −2 2 2 2 −2 2 −2 2 −2

In this case the kets are elements of a 4-dimensional complex Hilbert space H. The state of the
electron, while not measured, may be any normalized ket |ψ# = c1 |φ1 # + c2 |φ2 # + . . . + c10 |φ10 #,
where c1 , c2 , . . . c10 ∈ C and φ1 , φ2 , . . . , φ10 are the possible pure states. According to the
( )T
proposition 1.7., the column vector c1 c2 . . . c10 represents the state |ψ# in a 10-
dimensional complex Hilbert space.

2. Eigenvectors and eigenvalues

Definition 2.1. Given a matrix A, a non-zero vector |a# is defined to be an eigenvector

of A if and only if satisfies the equation A|a# = λa |a# for some λ ∈ C. In this situation, the
scalar λ is called an eigenvalue of A corresponding to the eigenvector |a#.

Proposition 2.2. If A is a hermitian matrix and λ is an eigenvalue of A, then λ ∈ R.

Proposition 2.3. If A is an observable, the values of A that can be measured by an

experiment are the eigenvalues of A. In adittion, an eigenvector |a# of A represents a state in
which the observable A has a probability 1 to be λa .

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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts

Examples 2.4.
   
1 m11 m12
1) The vector   is an eigenvector of any matrix  , with eigenvalue m11 ,
0 0 m22
since     
m11 m12 1 1
   = m11  
0 m22 0 0
 
1
In particular,   is an eigenvector of any diagonal matrix, with eigenvalue m11 .
0

   
0 m11 0
2) The vector   is an eigenvector of any matrix  , with eigenvalue m22 ,
1 m21 m22
since     
m11 0 0 0
    = m22  
m21 m22 1 1
 
0
In particular,   is an eigenvector of any diagonal matrix, with eigenvalue m22 .
1

 
! 1 0 
3) The spin projection operator Sz = affects a measurement of the spin in
2 0 −1
   
1 0 ! !
the z direction2 . Sz has two eigenvectors,   and  , with eigenvalues and − ,
0 1 2 2
since     
!  1 0  1  !  1 
=
2 0 −1 0 2 0
    
! 1 0 0 0
   = −!  
2 0 −1 1 2 1

2 ! !
Sz = σ3 , where σ3 is the third Pauli matrix. There are also two more spin operators, which are Sx = σ1
2 » – » – 2
! 0 1 0 −i
and Sy = σ2 where σ1 = and σ2 = are the first and the second Pauli matrices. It
2 1 0 −i 0
turns out that Sx , Sy and Sz have the same eigenvalues.
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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts

Proposition 2.5. If A ∈ Mn (C) is a hermitian matrix, then A has n egeinvectors, each

one with its own eigenvalue.

Theorem 2.6. Let A be a hermitian matrix and let |a# and |b# be two eigenvalues of A.
If the eigenvalues λa and λb are different, then the vectors |a# and |b# are orthogonal.

Proof. We begin from the following equations:

A|a# = λa |a#
A|b# = λb |b#

Using the known rules of inner product in bra-ket notation:

A|a# = λa |a# "b|A|a# = λa "b|a# "b|A|a# = λa "b|a#

=⇒ =⇒ =⇒
A|b# = λb |b# "a|A|b# = λb "a|b# "b|A|a# = λ∗b "b|a# - ./ 0
λb ∈ R

"b|A|a# = λa "b|a#
=⇒ =⇒ λa "b|a# = λb "b|a# =⇒ (λa − λb )"b|a# = 0 =⇒ "b|a# = 0
"b|A|a# = λb "b|a# - ./ 0
λa .= λb
Therefore |a# ⊥ |b#. !

Theorem 2.6. Let A be an observable and let |a# be a certain normalized eigenvector of
A. If the system is prepared in any arbitrary state described as a normalized vector |b#, the
probability of measuring λa is "a|b#"a|b#∗ = "a|b#"b|a#.
 
1
Example 2.7. Let |b# =   be a vector which describes the state of the spin of an
0
electron, so that the electron is pointing upwards. |b# is an eigenvector of the observable Sz , so
we know precisely that when we measure Sz we will obtain 1. The probability
  of measure the
√1
eigenvalue 1 of Sx is given by "a|b#"a|b#∗ , where a is the eigenvector  2  of Sx associated
√1
2
to the eigenvalue 1:
     ∗
5 6∗
( ) 1 ( ) 1
 √1 √1    √1 √1   = √1 1
√
1 1
=√ √ =
1
2 2
0 2 2
0 2 2 2 2 2

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Álvaro Moreno Vallori - Quantum Entangelments Previous mathematical concepts

Notice that in order to measure the observable Sx we should create a horizontal magnetic field,
so the spin of the electron will stop ponting upwards and will change to point in the direction
of the field. The fact that the spin is in a vertical direction implies that the electron has the
same probability of emiting a photon (acting as if it was prepared in the opposite direction of
the field) as emiting none (acting as if it was prepared on the direction of the field), so that is
why the probability of measure the eigenvalue 1 of Sx is 21 .

Definition 2.8. The operator associated with spin in an arbitrary direction given by a
( )
unitary vector n̂ = n1 n2 n3 is the sum of the three spin operators for the three spatial
directions each one multiplied by the component of n̂ in each of the axis:
     
! 0 1  ! 0 −i  ! 1 0 
n 1 Sx + n 2 Sy + n 3 Sz = n 1  + n2  + n3  =
2 1 0 2 i 0 2 0 −1

       
!  0 n1 0 −n2 i n3 0 n3 n1 − n2 i
= + +  = !  
2 n1 0 n2 i 0 0 −n3 2 n1 + n2 i n3

Proposition 2.9. The square of the operator associated with spin in an arbitrary direction
(including the directions of the axis, with the operators Sx , Sy and Sz ) is!2 I, 
where 
I is the

1 0
identity matrix. That means the eigenvalues of these matrices are always   and  .
0 1

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