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Postulates of Quantum Mechanics

The postulates of quantum mechanics describe the fundamental principles of quantum systems. Postulate 1 states that quantum systems are described by state vectors in a Hilbert space. Postulate 2 describes the unitary time evolution of closed quantum systems via a unitary operator. Postulate 2' specifies that time evolution is given by the Schrodinger equation with a Hamiltonian operator. Postulate 3 explains that quantum measurements are described by measurement operators and yield probabilistic outcomes that update the quantum state.

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59 views1 page

Postulates of Quantum Mechanics

The postulates of quantum mechanics describe the fundamental principles of quantum systems. Postulate 1 states that quantum systems are described by state vectors in a Hilbert space. Postulate 2 describes the unitary time evolution of closed quantum systems via a unitary operator. Postulate 2' specifies that time evolution is given by the Schrodinger equation with a Hamiltonian operator. Postulate 3 explains that quantum measurements are described by measurement operators and yield probabilistic outcomes that update the quantum state.

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Postulates of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Postulates 1 : Associated to any physical system is a complex vector space with inner product
(a Hilbert space) known as the state space of the system. The system is completely described by its state
vector which is a unit vector in the systems state space.
Quantum Postulate 2 : The evolution of a closed system is described by a unitar operator U. That is, if
at t1 the system is in state |t1> and at later time t2 the system is in state |t2> then |t2> = U|t1> for
some unitary operator U. Any unitary operator U can be realized in realistic systems. Quantum mechanics
does not tell us which operator U describes real world evolution just as it does not tell us which state a
particular system is in.
Quantum Postulate 2 : The time evolution of the state of a closed quantum system is described by the
d| >
Schrodinger equation ih dt = H | > where h is Planks constant and H is a fixed Hermitian operator known
as the Hamiltonian of the closed system. (Example: Suppose H=hX
h where i X is the Pauli X transformation.
-iH(t2-t1)
Then the solution to the Schrodingerh equationi is |(t2)>=exp h
|(t1)>=U(t1, t2)|(t1)> so the
-iH(t2-t1)
unitary operator in Postulate 2 is exp h
.

(Note: Any Unitary operator U can be realized in the form U=exp(iK) for some Hermitian operatr K.)
Quantum Postulate 3 : Quantum measurements are described by a collection {Mm } of measurement oper-
ators. These are operators acting on the state space of the system being measured. The index m refers to the
measurement outcomes that may occur in the experiment. If the state of the quantum system is |> imme-
t
diately before the measurement then the probability that result m occurs is given by p(m)=<|Mm Mm | >
Mm | > Mm | >
and the state of the system after the measurement is p t
= p(m)
. The measurement operators
<|Mm Mm | >
P t P P t
satisfy the completeness equation MmMm = I since 1 = p(m) = <|Mm Mm | > . If we measure
a qubit a|0><0|+b|1><1| in the computational basis we have M0 = |0><0| and M1 = |1><1| and since
these are Hermitan we have that p(0) = <|M0tM0| > =<|M0| > =|a|2 and p(1) = <|M1tM1| > =
M0| > a
<|M1| > =|b|2. The state after a 0 measurement is |a|
= |a|
|0 > and after a 1 measurement is
M1| > b a
|b|
= |b| |1 > . ( |a| can be ignored since we can always multiply by a phase change.)

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