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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Observation versus evolution: A short time theorem for positive definite functions, unitary groups, and quantum processes

Marek Kanter

Published Apr 1, 1989• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The change of state of a quantum process is studied in the limit when the time t between observations tends to 0. General quantum processes are treated, as represented by a strongly continuous group G of unitary operators on a Hilbert space. Observation is defined as the effect of a self-adjoint operator A on the state vector. When A has countable spectrum and nondegenerate eigenvalues, the limiting change of state (given there is a change) is completely characterized. The most interesting special case occurs when the initial state is an eigenvector of A not in the domain of the Hamiltonian generating G: the whereabouts of the next observed state become infinitely diffuse as t→0. The results involve some analytic and geometric facts about complex valued positive definite functions.

DOI
10.1063/1.528408

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The change of state of a quantum process is studied in the limit when the time t between observations tends to 0. General quantum processes are treated, as represented by a strongly continuous group G of unitary operators on a Hilbert space. Observation is defined as the effect of a self-adjoint operator A on the state vector. When A has countable spectrum and nondegenerate eigenvalues, the limiting change of state (given there is a change) is completely characterized. The most interesting special case occurs when the initial state is an eigenvector of A not in the domain of the Hamiltonian generating G: the whereabouts of the next observed state become infinitely diffuse as t→0. The results involve some analytic and geometric facts about complex valued positive definite functions.
In this paper time is indexed by a “time group” G that may be either the real line or the integers. A quantum process is a homomorphic representation of G via unitary operators on a Hilbert space L, with the usual continuity restrictions if time is indexed by the reals. Consider a quantum process subject to nonselective observation at all points in time via an observation operator with purely discrete eigenvalues and corresponding simple eigenvectors. Suppose that the process evolves in such a way that the results of observation at a given time are the same, whether or not there have been previous observations. Suppose further that L is spanned by the set of vectors invariant modulo phase under the quantum evolution. If the time group is the integers, then the process is observed to evolve in a classical manner. If the time group is the real line, then the process is never observed to undergo a change of state. The results of this paper are essentially a corollary of von Neumann’s mean ergodic theorem.
ABSTRACT: The main aim of this article is to present the time-evolution as the unitary and self-adjoint operators on Hilbert spaces and to describe its application in the development of quantum mechanics. The initial value problems associated with the quantum mechanical Schrodinger equation, ( ) = ( ) in the Hilbert space is solved by the use of timeevolution. The importance of time-evolution is also seen as the operation of turning machine in quantum mechanics, which is regarded as the time-evolution of the machine control state. Time-evolution of a quantum mechanical system is observed to be unitary and self-adjoint operators of Hilbert space, since it corresponds to an observable, specifically energy position and momentum. It was observed that time-evolution of a quantum mechanical system is generated by a self-adjoint operator, called Hamiltonian, V K H ˆ ˆ ˆ   , expressed by the Schrodinger equation, above.
A non-Hermitian operator H defined in a Hilbert space with inner product ⟨ · | · ⟩ may serve as the Hamiltonian for a unitary quantum system if it is η -pseudo-Hermitian for a metric operator (positive-definite automorphism) η . The latter defines the inner product ⟨ · | η · ⟩ of the physical Hilbert space H η of the system. For situations where some of the eigenstates of H depend on time, η becomes time-dependent. Therefore, the system has a non-stationary Hilbert space. Such quantum systems, which are also encountered in the study of quantum mechanics in cosmological backgrounds, suffer from a conflict between the unitarity of time evolution and the unobservability of the Hamiltonian. Their proper treatment requires a geometric framework which clarifies the notion of the energy observable and leads to a geometric extension of quantum mechanics (GEQM). We provide a general introduction to the subject, review some of the recent developments, offer a straightforward description of the Heisenberg-picture formulation of the dynamics for quantum systems having a time-dependent Hilbert space, and outline the Heisenberg-picture formulation of dynamics in GEQM.
The problem of construction a quantum mechanical evolution for the Schrodinger equation with a degenerate Hamiltonian which is a symmetric operator that does not have self-adjoint extensions is considered. Self-adjoint regularization of the Hamiltonian does not lead to a preserving probability limiting evolution for vectors from the Hilbert space but it is used to construct a limiting evolution of states on a C*-algebra of compact operators and on an abelian subalgebra of operators in the Hilbert space. The limiting evolution of the states on the abelian algebra can be presented by the Kraus decomposition with two terms. Both of this terms are corresponded to the unitary and shift components of Wold's decomposition of isometric semigroup generated by the degenerate Hamiltonian. Properties of the limiting evolution of the states on the C*-algebras are investigated and it is shown that pure states could evolve into mixed states.
We consider quantum random walks in an infinite-dimensional phase space constructed using Weyl representation of the coordinate and momentum operators in the space of functions on a Hilbert space which are square integrable with respect to a shift-invariant measure. We study unitary groups of shift operators in the phase space and averaging of such shifts by Gaussian vectors, which form semigroups of self-adjoint contractions: we find conditions for their strong continuity and establish properties of their generators. Significant differences in their properties allow us to show the absence of the Fourier transform as a unitary transformation that implements the unitary equivalence of these compressive semigroups. Next, we prove the Taylor formula for a certain special subset of smooth functions for shifting to a non-finite vector. It allows us to prove convergence of quantum random walks in the coordinate representation to the evolution of a diffusion process, as well as convergence of quantum random walks in both coordinate and momentum representations to the evolution semigroup of a quantum oscillator in an infinite-dimensional phase space. We find the special essential common domain of generators of semigroups arising in averaging of random shift operators both in position and momentum representations. The invariance of this common domain with respect to both semigroups allows to establish properties of a convex combination of both generators. That convex combination are Hamiltonians of infinite-dimentional quantum oscillators. Thus, we obtain that a Weyl representation of a random walk in an infinite dimensional phase space describes the semigroup of self-adjoint contractions whose generator is the Hamiltonian of an infinite dimensional harmonic oscillator.
In classical mechanics the state of a system is defined by the numerical values of a set of dynamical variables such as the position coordinates and the velocities. In quantum mechanics the state of a system at an instant is represented by a unit vector in a Hilbert space, where a set of axes are the eigenvectors of a complete set of observables. Here the observable are not the state vectors but the expectation values of a set of self-adjoint or Hermitian operators corresponding to the dynamical variables. The variation of 〈A〉 with time is seen as arising in any one of the following ways: 1. The state vector changes with time, but the operator A remains unchanged.