The Cayley-Hamilton problem of expressing functions of matrices in terms of only their eigenvalues is well-known to simplify to finding the inverse of the confluent Vandermonde matrix. Here, we give a highly compact formula for the inverse of any matrix, and apply it to the confluent Vandermonde matrix, achieving in a single equation what has only been achieved by long iterative algorithms until now. As a prime application, we use this result to get a simple formula for explicit exponential operators in terms of only their eigenvalues, with an emphasis on application to finite discrete quantum systems with time dependence. This powerful result permits explicit solutions to all Schrödinger and von Neumann equations for time-commuting Hamiltonians, and explicit solutions to any degree of approximation in the non-time-commuting case. The same methods can be extended to general finite discrete open systems to get explicit quantum operations for time evolution using effective joint systems, and the exact solution of all finite discrete Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formulas.
The Cayley-Hamilton problem of expressing functions of matrices in terms of only their eigenvalues is well-known to simplify to finding the inverse of the confluent Vandermonde matrix. Here, we give a highly compact formula for the inverse of any matrix, and apply it to the confluent Vandermonde matrix, achieving in a single equation what has only been achieved by long iterative algorithms until now. As a prime application, we use this result to get a simple formula for explicit exponential operators in terms of only their eigenvalues, with an emphasis on application to finite discrete quantum systems with time dependence. This powerful result permits explicit solutions to all Schrödinger and von Neumann equations for time-commuting Hamiltonians, and explicit solutions to any degree of approximation in the non-time-commuting case. The same methods can be extended to general finite discrete open systems to get explicit quantum operations for time evolution using effective joint systems, and the exact solution of all finite discrete Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formulas.
Abstract. Eigenvalue transformations, which include solving time-dependent differential equations as a special case, have a wide range of applications in scientific and engineering computation. While quantum algorithms for singular value transformations are well studied, eigenvalue transformations are distinct, especially for nonnormal matrices. We propose an efficient quantum algorithm for performing a class of eigenvalue transformations that can be expressed as a certain type of matrix Laplace transformation. This allows us to significantly extend the recently developed linear combination of Hamiltonian simulation method [D. An, J.-P. Liu, and L. Lin, Phys. Rev. Lett., 131 (2023), 150603; D. An, A. M. Childs, and L. Lin, Commun. Math. Phys. 407, 19 (2026)] to represent a wider class of eigenvalue transformations, such as powers of the matrix inverse, [Formula: see text], and the exponential of the matrix inverse, [Formula: see text]. The latter can be interpreted as the solution of a mass-matrix differential equation of the form [Formula: see text]. We demonstrate that our eigenvalue transformation approach can solve this problem without explicitly inverting [Formula: see text], thereby reducing the computational complexity.
Eigenvalue transformations, which include solving time-dependent differential equations as a special case, have a wide range of applications in scientific and engineering computation. While quantum algorithms for singular value transformations are well studied, eigenvalue transformations are distinct, especially for non-normal matrices. We propose an efficient quantum algorithm for performing a class of eigenvalue transformations that can be expressed as a certain type of matrix Laplace transformation. This allows us to significantly extend the recently developed linear combination of Hamiltonian simulation (LCHS) method [An, Liu, Lin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 150603, 2023; An, Childs, Lin, arXiv:2312.03916] to represent a wider class of eigenvalue transformations, such as powers of the matrix inverse, A−k, and the exponential of the matrix inverse, e−A−1. The latter can be interpreted as the solution of a mass-matrix differential equation of the form Au′(t)=−u(t). We demonstrate that our eigenvalue transformation approach can solve this problem without explicitly inverting A, reducing the computational complexity.
In recent decades a lot of research has been done on the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. On the one hand, some of the proposed numerical methods do not need any kind of matrix inversion, but source terms cannot be easily implemented into this schemes; on the other, some methods involving matrix inversion can implement source terms in a natural way, but are not easy to implement into some computational software programs widely used by non-experts in programming (e.g. Mathematica). We present a simple method to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation by using a standard Crank-Nicholson method together with a Cayley's form for the finite-difference representation of evolution operator. Here, such standard numerical scheme has been simplified by inverting analytically the matrix of the evolution operator in position representation. The analytical inversion of the N x N matrix let us easily and fully implement the numerical method, with or without source terms, into Mathematica or even into any numerical computing language or computational software used for scientific computing.
Abstract The exponential of an operator or matrix is widely used in quantum theory, but it sometimes can be a challenge to evaluate. For non-commutative operators X and Y, according to the Campbell-Baker-Hausdorff-Dynkin theorem, e X+Y is not equivalent to e X e Y , but is instead given by the well-known infinite series formula. For a Lie algebra of a basis of three operators {X, Y, Z}, such that [X, Y] = κ Z for scalar κ and cyclic permutations, here it is proven that e a X+b Y is equivalent to e p Z e q X e−p Z for scalar p and q. Extensions for e a X+b Y+c Z are also provided. This method is useful for the dynamics of atomic and molecular nuclear and electronic spins in constant and oscillatory transverse magnetic and electric fields.
The Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff (BCH) formula plays a critical role in many branches of mathematics and physics. It expresses the logarithm of the product of exponentials of non-commuting operators as an infinite series of nested commutators of the operators involved. The Zassenhaus formula is the dual of the BCH formula: the exponential of a sum of operators is written as an infinite product of exponentials involving the operators and their commutators. In practical computations, however, one typically has to truncate the expansions, and so understanding the error committed by the resulting approximations and eventually providing suitable bounds for this error is of paramount interest. In this work we present a general strategy to derive rigorous error bounds and explicit error constants for the BCH and Zassenhaus formulas when the operators involved are skew-adjoint, as is the case for quantum evolution problems.
Elementary parameter-differentiation techniques are developed to systematically derive a wide variety of operator identities, expansions, and solutions to differential equations of interest to quantum physics. The treatment is largely centered around a general closed formula for the derivative of an exponential operator with respect to a parameter. Derivations are given of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula and its dual, the Zassenhaus formula. The continuous analogs of these formulas which solve the differential equation dY(t)/dt = A(t) Y(t), the solutions of Magnus and Fer, respectively, are similarly derived in a recursive manner which manifestly displays the general repeated-commutator nature of these expansions and which is quite suitable for computer programming. An expansion recently obtained by Kumar and another new expansion are shown to be derivable from the Fer and Magnus solutions, respectively, in the same way. Useful similarity transformations involving linear combinations of elements of a Lie algebra are obtained. Some cases where the product eAeB can be written as a closed-form single exponential are considered which generalize results of Sack and of Weiss and Maradudin. Closed-form single-exponential solutions to the differential equation dY(t)/dt = A(t) Y(t) are obtained for two cases and compared with the corresponding multiple-exponential solutions of Wei and Norman. Normal ordering of operators is also treated and derivations, corollaries, or generalization of a number of known results are efficiently obtained. Higher derivatives of exponential and general operators are discussed by means of a formula due to Poincaré which is the operator analog of the Cauchy integral formula of complex variable theory. It is shown how results obtained by Aizu for matrix elements and traces of derivatives may be readily derived from the Poincaré formula. Some applications of the results of this paper to quantum statistics and to the Weyl prescription for converting a classical function to a quantum operator are given. A corollary to a theorem of Bloch is obtained which permits one to obtain harmonic-oscillator canonical-ensemble averages of general operators defined by the Weyl prescription. Solutions of the density-matrix equation are also discussed. It is shown that an initially canonical ensemble behaves as though its temperature remains constant with a ``canonical distribution'' determined by a certain fictitious Hamiltonian.