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arXiv:quant-ph/9810084

Density Matrices and Geometric Phases for n-state Systems

Luis J. Boya, Mark Byrd, Mark Mcgrew Mims, E. C. G. Sudarshan

Published Oct 28, 1998• 14 citations
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Abstract

An explicit parameterization is given for the density matrices for $n$-state systems. The geometry of the space of pure and mixed states and the entropy of the $n$-state system is discussed. Geometric phases can arise in only specific subspaces of the space of all density matrices. The possibility of obtaining nontrivial abelian and nonabelian geometric phases in these subspaces is discussed.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/9810084

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An explicit parameterization is given for the density matrices for nnn-state systems. The geometry of the space of pure and mixed states and the entropy of the nnn-state system is discussed. Geometric phases can arise in only specific subspaces of the space of all density matrices. The possibility of obtaining nontrivial abelian and nonabelian geometric phases in these subspaces is discussed.
We discuss the geometry of states of quantum systems in an n-dimensional Hilbert space in terms of an explicit parameterization of all such systems. The geometry of the space of pure as well as mixed states for n -state systems is discussed. The parameterization is particularly useful since it allows for the simple construction and isolation of various physically meaningful subspaces of the space of all density matrices. This is used to describe possible geometric phases, their calculation, and analyze entropy and purity (or linear entropy) functions. In particular we provide conditions under which nontrivial abelian and/or nonabelian geometric phases aris in these subspaces in terms of the given parameterization, an explicit example is given, and multidimensional ientopic surfaces are discused.
This paper presents an introduction to geometric representations of quantum states in which each distinct quantum state, pure and mixed, corresponds to a unique point in a Euclidean space. Beginning with a review of some underappreciated properties of the most commonly used geometric representation, the Bloch sphere visualization of qubit states, we show how concepts, algorithms, and spatial relations viewable on this geometric representation can be extended to representations of qudit states of any finite quantum dimension ddd and on to the infinite-dimensional limit. A primary goal of the work is helping the reader develop a visual intuition of these spaces, which can complement the understanding of the algebraic formalism of quantum mechanics for learners, teachers, and researchers at any level. Particular emphasis is given both to understanding states in a basis-independent way and to understanding how probability amplitudes and density matrix elements used to algebraically represent states in a particular basis correspond to line segments and angles in the geometric representations. In addition to providing visualizations for such concepts as superpositions, mixtures, decoherence, and measurement, we demonstrate how the representations can be used to substitute simple geometrical calculations for more cumbersome linear algebra ones, which may be of particular use in introducing mixed states and density matrices to beginning quantum students at an early stage. The work concludes with the geometrical interpretation of some commonly used metrics such as the purity of states and their relation to real, Euclidean vectors in the infinite-dimensional limit of the space, which contains all lower-dimensional qudit spaces as subspaces.
Geometric phase of mixed state for three-level open system is defined by establishing in connecting density matrix with nonunit vector ray in a three-dimensional complex Hilbert space. Because the geometric phase depends only on the smooth curve on this space, it is formulated entirely in terms of geometric structures. Under the limiting of pure state, our approach is in agreement with the Berry phase, Pantcharatnam phase, and Aharonov and Anandan phase. We find that, furthermore, the Berry phase of mixed state correlated to population inversions of three-level open system.
Based only on the parallel-transport condition, we present a general method to compute Abelian or non-Abelian geometric phases acquired by the basis states of pure or mixed density operators, which also holds for nonadiabatic and noncyclic evolution. Two interesting features of the non-Abelian geometric phase obtained by our method stand out: i) it is a generalization of Wilczek and Zee's non-Abelian holonomy, in that it describes nonadiabatic evolution where the basis states are parallelly transported between distinct degenerate subspaces, and ii) the non-Abelian character of our geometric phase relies on the transitional evolution of the basis states, even in the nondegenerate case. We apply our formalism to a two-level system evolving nonadiabatically under spontaneous decay to emphasize the non-Abelian nature of the geometric phase induced by the reservoir. We also show, through the generalized invariant theory, that our general approach encompasses previous results in the literature.