Abstract In this chapter we discuss statistical mixtures of pure quantum states, resulting in so-called mixed states, and their representation using density operators. The properties of density operators for pure and mixed states are analysed and we examine their time evolution governed by the Liouville-von Neumann equation. As particular examples of interest we consider the density operators for thermal states, focusing on harmonic oscillators and the application of this model to calculate the average photon number for the modes of the electromagnetic field at thermal equilibrium. We then turn to two-level systems, or qubits, which are of particular relevance in quantum information theory and we inspect the geometry of the state space of density operators as a convex subspace of the Hilbert-Schmidt space. Finally, we take a closer look at density operators for bipartite systems which forms the mathematical basis for considering entanglement in later chapters.
Abstract In this chapter we discuss statistical mixtures of pure quantum states, resulting in so-called mixed states, and their representation using density operators. The properties of density operators for pure and mixed states are analysed and we examine their time evolution governed by the Liouville-von Neumann equation. As particular examples of interest we consider the density operators for thermal states, focusing on harmonic oscillators and the application of this model to calculate the average photon number for the modes of the electromagnetic field at thermal equilibrium. We then turn to two-level systems, or qubits, which are of particular relevance in quantum information theory and we inspect the geometry of the state space of density operators as a convex subspace of the Hilbert-Schmidt space. Finally, we take a closer look at density operators for bipartite systems which forms the mathematical basis for considering entanglement in later chapters.
Abstract This chapter introduces the density operator and the Liouville equation and outlines how reduced dynamical description of open quantum systems naturally leads to the appearance of relaxation processes. (1) The density operator and the quantum Liouville equation (the density matrix for a pure system, statistical mixtures, representations, coherences, thermodynamic equilibrium). (2) An example: The time evolution of a two-level system in the density matrix formalism. (3) Reduced descriptions. (4) Time evolution equations for reduced density operators: The quantum master equation (projection operators, The Nakajima–Zwanzig equation, Derivation of the quantum master equation using the thermal projector, The quantum master equation in the interaction representation, The Markovian limit—the Redfield equation, The secular approximation and the Lindblad equation). (5) The Lindblad equation in the ‘Heisenberg representation’. (6) Relaxation of a two-level system and a harmonic oscillator revisited. (7) The optically driven two-level system in a thermal environment—the Bloch equations. (8) The oscillating dipole model of a two-level molecule. (9) Analogy of a coupled two-level system to a spin ½ system in a magnetic field.
Abstract The first part of the chapter is devoted to the discussion of density operators. We first introduce the definition of a density operator and the unitary evolution of a quantum state. We then examine the measurement of a quantum system using the density operator approach. We present the density operator associated with a qubit and a harmonic oscillator at thermal equilibrium. The second part of the chapter focuses on bipartite systems. We show that the quantum state of a subsystem is given by the partial trace of the density operator of the global system. Finally, we explain the concept of purification of a density operator
From the outset statistical mechanics will be framed in the language of quantum theory. The typical macroscopic system is composed of multiple constituents, and hence described in some many-particle Hilbert space. In general, not much is known about such a system, certainly not the precise preparation of all its microscopic details. Thus, its description requires a more general notion of a quantum state, a so-called mixed state. This chapter begins with a brief review of the basic axioms of quantum theory regarding observables, pure states, measurements, and time evolution. Particular attention is paid to the use of projection operators and to the most elementary quantum system, a two-level system. The chapter then motivates the introduction of mixed states and examines in detail their mathematical representation and properties. It also dwells on the description of composite systems, introducing, in particular, the notions of statistical independence and correlations.
In many cases, measurements are performed on “mixed” ensembles of realizations of a system, which cannot be associated with a single vector in its Hilbert space. In these cases the state of the system is represented by a proper “density operator.” It is instructive to associate density operators with state vectors in a vector space, termed Liouville’s space, where the Schrödinger equation is reformulated as the Liouville–Von Neumann equation. An important consequence of this equation is that the density operator of a system at equilibrium must commute with its Hamiltonian. Namely, the matrix representation of the density operator in the basis of Hamiltonian eigenstates is diagonal, where the diagonal elements are the relative populations of the system’s Hamiltonian eigenstates. The equilibrium populations are revealed by maximizing the (Von Neumann) entropy, subject to given constraints. We derive the equilibrium density operator explicitly for the cases of canonical and grand canonical ensembles.
Abstract In this chapter we collect a number of key elements of quantum optics relevant for quantum information theory. We begin by discussing the quantization of the electromagnetic field in terms of harmonic oscillators with ladder operators and the corresponding Fock space. Based on this description we introduce Glauber’s coherent states and examine their properties as proper quantum analogues of the classical harmonic oscillator. We then study the description of states of light in a quantum-mechanical phase space by employing quasi-probability distributions such as the Wigner function. With these tools at hand we then focus on the family of Gaussian states and their compact description in terms of covariance matrices and vectors of first moments. We review the formalism of Gaussian operations, symplectic operations, the Williamson normal form, and the Bloch-Messiah decomposition. Finally, we take a look at entanglement of Gaussian states.
In Chapter 4, we introduced the concept of the photon number representation of the electromagnetic (EM) field that is based on the number states, the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian of the EM field. However, this is not the only possible representation, in fact not always the most convenient. In this chapter, we introduce the concept of phase space representations of a quantum system which is in a state described by the density operator ρˆ. The density operator of a given system encodes classical as well as non-classical (quantum) properties of the system. How to distinguish these two kinds of properties is of basic importance in quantum optics. Therefore, we shall address this issue by using representations of the density operator that are based on the parametric space of complex eigenvalues of the annihilation operator aˆ in a coherent state |α〉. We first determine what we mean by the density operator of a quantum system and discuss its basic properties. Next, we introduce different representations of the density operator in terms of coherent state projectors |α〉〈α|. The representations show that a state of the EM field or of an arbitrary quantum system may be regarded as a mixture of coherent states. Along the way, we will learn how to find the P , Q and Wigner representations of the density operator, what are their properties, how to interpret the properties and how to calculate relations between the different representations. Most importantly, certain field states exhibit non- classical features and these non-classical features can be manifested in the phase space representations. Accordingly, we will learn how the representations are very convenient tools to describe quantum states of simple systems.