Phys 622: Problem Set 3

Jay Sau
September 19, 2014
Problem 1: Unitary operators:
(a) Suppose R
mn
= m|U|n is the matrix representation of a unitary oper-
ator U in an orthonormal basis {|n}
D
n=1
the show that R is a unitary matrix
i.e. RR

= 1.
(b) If U is an operator in a d-dimensional space such that U

U = 1 show
that UU

= 1 (so that U is unitary). To prove this rst show that if {|n}

D
n=1
is
an orthonormal set then so is {|n

= U|n}
D
n=1
is an orthonormal basis. Prove
the results by calculating the matrix elements m

|UU

|n

.
(c) By expressing operators A and B in terms of a nite orthonormal basis
|n, show that Tr(AB) = Tr(BA).
Problem 2: Pecularities of innite dimensional operators:
(a) We propose to show that 1(b) is false for an innite dimensional space
with an innite orthonormal basis |n

n=1
. By dening U =

n=1
|nn + 1|
show that UU

= 1, while U

U = 1.
(a) We propose to show that 1(c) is false for an innite dimensional space
with an innite orthonormal basis |n

n=1
. By dening B =

n=1
b
n
|nn + 1|
show that Tr(BB

) = Tr(B

B) for some choices of b

n
.
Problem 3:
(a) Dene A

= cos X + sin Y (where X, Y, Z were operators in Problem

4 Prob. set 2 - feel free to use all properties you showed there). Show that
{X, Z} = XZ +ZX = {Y, Z} = 0.
(b) Using this show that if A

|+ = a|+ then Z|+ is also an eigenstate of

A

.
(c) Compute A

matrix and its eigenvalues and eigenvectors in the |0, |1

basis. [Hint: The eigenvalues may be computed by calculating Det(A

1) = 0,
the eigenvectors can be computed by directly solving (A

1)u = 0, where u
is a matrix. ]
(d) Suppose the eigenvectors computed above are u
+
and u

with positive
and negative eigenvalues respectively. Dene a matrix U =

u
+
u

. By
computing everthing in the |0, |1 basis Z = U

U.
Problem 4:
(a) Consider a pair of operators A = C +C

+b|11| (where C = a(|12| +

|23| + |31|) ) and B = |23| + |32| + |11|. By writing the operators as
matrices in the basis |1, |2, |3 check that [A, B] = 0.
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(b)Calculate eigenvectors u
1
, u
2
, u
3
(column vectors) of B. Construct the
unitary matrix U =

u
1
u
2
u
3

(by putting together the column vectors

into a square matrix) and check that U

BU is a diagonal matrix. [Hint: Note |1

is trivially an eigenvector. The remaining orthogonal space is a 2 dimensional
and B in that space is a 2 2 matrix. ]
(c) Calculate A
1
= U

AU i.e. A in the u
1
, u
2
, u
3
basis and show that A
1
is
block diagonal.
(d) Using the block diagonal property of A
1
(and following a similar proce-
dure to (b) ) calculate eigenvectors and eigenvalues of A
1
.
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