Postulates of

Quantum
Mechanics
SOURCES
Angela Antoniu, David Fortin,
Artur Ekert, Michael Frank,
Kevin Irwig , Anuj Dawar ,
Michael Nielsen
Jacob Biamonte and students

Gates on Multi-Qubit State, a reminder

Example of Complex quantum

system of 3 qubits other
realization of Toffoli, composed of
2-qubit gates

All gates are at most 2-qubit

Only CNOT as 2-qubit gates
It has 6 not 5 interaction gates

Short review

Linear Operators
V,W: Vector spaces.
A linear operator A from V to W is a linear
function A:VW. An operator on V is an
operator from V to itself.
Given bases for V and W, we can represent linear
operators as matrices.
An operator A on V is Hermitian iff it is selfadjoint (A=A). Its diagonal elements are real.

Eigenvalues & Eigenvectors

v is called an eigenvector of linear operator A iff
A just multiplies v by a scalar x, i.e. Av=xv
eigen (German) = characteristic.

x, the eigenvalue corresponding to eigenvector v,

is just the scalar that A multiplies v by.
x is degenerate if it is shared by 2 eigenvectors
that are not scalar multiples of each other.
Any Hermitian operator has all real-valued
eigenvectors, which are orthogonal (for distinct
eigenvalues).

Exam Problems

Find eigenvalues and eigenvectors of operators.

Calculate solutions for quantum arrays.
Prove that rows and columns are orthonormal.
Prove probability preservation
Prove unitarity of matrices.
Postulates of Quantum Mechanics. Examples and
interpretations.

Unitary Transformations
A matrix (or linear operator) U is unitary iff its
inverse equals its adjoint: U1 = U
Some properties of unitary transformations (UT):

Invertible, bijective, one-to-one.

The set of row vectors is orthonormal.
The set of column vectors is orthonormal.
Unitary transformation preserves vector length:

|U | = | |
Therefore also preserves total probability over all states:

( si )
2

UT corresponds to a change of basis, from one

orthonormal basis to another.
Or, a generalized rotation of in Hilbert space
Who an when invented all this stuff??

A great
breakthrough

Postulates of Quantum Mechanics

Lecture objectives
Why are postulates important?

they provide the connections between the

physical, real, world and the quantum
mechanics mathematics used to model these
systems

Lecture Objectives

Description of connections
Introduce the postulates
Learn how to use them
and when to use them

Physical Systems Quantum Mechanics

Connections
Postulate 1

Isolated physical
system

Hilbert Space

Postulate 2

Evolution of a physical
system

Unitary
transformation

Postulate 3

Measurements of a
physical system

Measurement
operators

Postulate 4

Composite physical
system

Tensor product
of components

Postulate 1:
State Space

Systems and Subsystems

Intuitively speaking, a physical system consists of
a region of spacetime & all the entities (e.g.
particles & fields) contained within it.

The universe (over all time) is a physical system

Transistors, computers, people: also physical systems.

One physical system A is a subsystem of anotherB

system B (write AB) iff A is completely
A
contained within B.
Later, we may try to make these definitions more
formal & precise.

Closed vs. Open Systems

A subsystem is closed to the extent that no
particles, information, energy, or entropy enter
or leave the system.
The universe is (presumably) a closed system.
Subsystems of the universe may be almost closed

Often in physics we consider statements about

closed systems.

These statements may often be perfectly true only in

a perfectly closed system.
However, they will often also be approximately true
in any nearly closed system (in a well-defined way)

Concrete vs. Abstract Systems

Usually, when reasoning about or interacting with
a system, an entity (e.g. a physicist) has in mind a
description of the system.
A description that contains every property of the
system is an exact or concrete description.
That system (to the entity) is a concrete system.

Other descriptions are abstract descriptions.

The system (as considered by that entity) is an
abstract system, to some degree.

We nearly always deal with abstract systems!

Based on the descriptions that are available to us.

States & State Spaces

A possible state S of an abstract system A
(described by a description D) is any concrete
system C that is consistent with D.

I.e., it is possible that the system in question could be

completely described by the description of C.

The state space of A is the set of all possible states

of A.
Most of the class, the concepts weve discussed can
be applied to either classical or quantum physics
Now, lets get to the uniquely quantum stuff

An example of a state space

Schroedingers Cat and

Explanation of Qubits
Postulate 1 in a
simple way: An
isolated physical
system is described
by a unit vector (state
vector) in a Hilbert
space (state space)
Cat is isolated in the
box

Distinguishability of States
Classical and quantum mechanics differ regarding
the distinguishability of states.
In classical mechanics, there is no issue:

Any two states s, t are either the same (s = t), or different

(s t), and thats all there is to it.

In quantum mechanics (i.e. in reality):

There are pairs of states s t that are mathematically

distinct, but not 100% physically distinguishable.
Such states cannot be reliably distinguished by any
number of measurements, no matter how precise.

But you can know the real state (with high probability), if you
prepared the system to be in a certain state.

Postulate 1: State Space

Postulate 1 defines the setting in which Quantum Mechanics takes
place.
This setting is the Hilbert space.
The Hilbert Space is an inner product space which satisfies the
condition of completeness (recall math lecture few weeks ago ).

Postulate1: Any isolated physical space is associated with a

complex vector space with inner product called the State Space
of the system.
The system is completely described by a state vector, a unit vector,
pertaining to the state space.
The state space describes all possible states the system can be in.
Postulate 1 does NOT tell us either what the state space is or what the
state vector is.

Revised Postulate 1

Distinguishability of States, more

precisely
t

Two state vectors s and t are (perfectly)

s

distinguishable or orthogonal (write st)

iff st = 0. (Their inner product is zero.)
State vectors s and t are perfectly indistinguishable
or identical (write s=t)
iff st = 1. (Their inner product is one.)
Otherwise, s and t are both non-orthogonal, and
non-identical. Not perfectly distinguishable.
We say, the amplitude of state s, given state t, is
st. Note: amplitudes are complex numbers.

State Vectors & Hilbert Space

Let S be any maximal set of distinguishable
possible states s, t, of an abstract system A.
Identify the elements of S with unit-length,
mutually-orthogonal (basis) vectors in an
abstract complex vector space H.
The Hilbert space

Postulate 1: The possible states of A

can be identified with the unit
vectors of H.

Postulate 2:
Evolution

Postulate 2: Evolution
Evolution of an isolated system can be expressed as:

v(t 2 ) U(t1 , t 2 ) v(t1 )

where t1, t2 are moments in time and U(t1, t2) is a unitary

operator.
U may vary with time. Hence, the corresponding segment of time is
explicitly specified:

U(t1, t2)

the process is in a sense Markovian (history doesnt matter) and

reversible, since

UU v v

Unitary operations preserve inner product

Example of evolution

Time Evolution
Recall the Postulate: (Closed) systems evolve
(change state) over time via unitary transformations.
t2 = Ut1t2 t1
Note that since U is linear, a small-factor change in
amplitude of a particular state at t1 leads to a
correspondingly small change in the amplitude of the
corresponding state at t2.
Chaos (sensitivity to initial conditions) requires an
ensemble of initial states that are different enough to be
distinguishable (in the sense we defined)
Indistinguishable initial states never beget distinguishable
outcome

Wavefunctions
Given any set S of system states (mutually
distinguishable, or not),
A quantum state vector can also be translated to a
wavefunction : S C, giving, for each state
sS, the amplitude (s) of that state.

When s is another state vector, and the real state is t,

then (s) is just st.
is called a wavefunction because its time evolution
obeys an equation (Schrdingers equation) which has
the form of a wave equation when S ranges over a
space of positional states.

Schrdingers Wave Equation

We have a system with states given by (x,t) where:

t is a global time coordinate, and

x describes N/3 particles (p1,,pN/3) with masses (m1,,mN/3)
in a 3-D Euclidean space,
where each pi is located at coordinates (x3i, x3i+1, x3i+2), and
where particles interact with potential energy function V(x,t),

the wavefunction (x,t) obeys the following (2nd-order,

linear, partial) differential equation:
Planck
Constant

N 1

j 0

j / 3

( x , t ) V ( x , t ) i ( x , t )
2

x j
t

Features of the wave equation

Particles momentum state p is encoded implicitly
by the particles wavelength : p=h/
The energy of any state is given by the frequency
of rotation of the wavefunction in the complex
plane: E=h .
By simulating this simple equation, one can
observe basic quantum phenomena such as:
Interference fringes
Tunneling of wave packets through potential barriers

Heisenberg and Schroedinger

views of Postulate 2
This is Heisenberg picture

This is Schroedinger
picture

..in this class we are interested in Heisenbergs view..

The Schrdinger Equation

The Schrdinger Equation governs the transformation of an
t
initial input state
toa 0final
output state . It is aprescription
for what we want to do to the computer.

t T exp i H d 0 U t 0
0

H is a time-dependent Hermitian matrix of size 2n called the

Hamiltonian
U t is a matrix of size 2n called the evolution matrix,
Vectors of complex numbers of length 2n
T is the time-ordering operator

The Schrdinger Equation

n is the number of quantum bits (qubits) in the quantum computer
The function exp is the traditional exponential function, but some
care must be taken here because the argument is a matrix.

xn

exp x
n 0 n!

U t

The evolution matrix

is the program for the quantum
computer. Applying
t this program to the input state produces the
output state
,which gives us a solution to the problem.

t T exp i H d 0 U t 0
0

The Hamiltonian Matrix in Schroedinger Equation

The Hamiltonian is a matrix that tells us how the quantum
computer reacts to the application of signals.
In other words, it describes how the qubits behave under the
influence of a machine language consisting of varying some
controllable parameters (like electric or magnetic fields).
Usually, the form of the matrix needs to be either derived by
a physicist or obtained via direct measurement of the
properties of the computer.

t T exp i H d 0 U t 0
0

The Evolution Matrix in the Schrodinger Equation

While the Hamiltonian describes how the quantum computer
responds to the machine language, the evolution matrix
describes the effect that this has on the state of the quantum
computer.
While knowing the Hamiltonian allows us to calculate the
evolution matrix in a pretty straightforward way, the reverse is
not true.
If we know the program, by which is meant the evolution
matrix, it is not an easy problem to determine the machine
language sequence that produces that program.
This is the quantum computer science version of the
compiler problem.
t

t T exp i H d 0

U t 0

Postulate 3:
Quantum
Measurement

Computational Basis a reminder

Observe that it is not

required to be orthonormal,
just linearly independent

We recalculate to a new
basis

Example of measurement
in different bases
1/2

The second with

probability zero

 You can check from definition that inner product

of |0> and |1> is zero.
Similarly the inner product of vectors from the
second basis is zero.
But we can take vectors like |0> and 1/2(|0>-|
1>) as a basis also, although measurement will
perhaps suffer.
Good
base

Not a base

A simplified Bloch Sphere to illustrate

the bases and measurements

You cannot add more vectors that would be orthogonal together with blue or red
vectors

Probability and Measurement

A yes/no measurement is an interaction designed
to determine whether a given system is in a
certain state s.
The amplitude of state s, given the actual state t
of the system determines the probability of
getting a yes from the measurement.
Important: For a system prepared in state t, any
measurement that asks is it in state s? will
return yes with probability Pr[ s|t] = |st|2
After the measurement, the state is changed, in a way
we will define later.

A Simple Example of distinguishable, nondistinguishable states and measurements

Suppose abstract system S has a set of only 4
distinguishable possible states, which well call
s0, s1, s2, and s3, with corresponding ket vectors |
s0, |s1, |s2, and |s3.
Another possible state is then the vector
1
i
s0
s3
2
2

2
0
0

Which is equal to the column matrix:

If measured to see if it is in state s0, i 2

we have a 50% chance of getting a yes.

Observables
Hermitian operator A on V is called an
observable if there is an orthonormal (all unitlength, and mutually orthogonal) subset of its
eigenvectors that forms a basis of V.
There can be
measurements that
are not observables

Observe that
the
eigenvectors
must be
orthonormal

Observables

Postulate 3:

Every measurable physical property of a system is

described by a corresponding operator A.
Measurement outcomes correspond to eigenvalues.

Postulate 3a:

The probability of an outcome is given by the

squared absolute amplitude of the corresponding
eigenvector(s), given the state.

Density Operators
For a given state |, the probabilities of all the
basis states si are determined by an Hermitian
operator or matrix (the density matrix):
c1*c1 cn*c1

*
[ i , j ] [c j ci ]

c1*cn cn*cn

The diagonal elements i,i are the probabilities of

the basis states.
The off-diagonal elements are coherences.

The density matrix describes the state exactly.

Towards QM Postulate 3 on
measurement and general formulas
A measurement is described by an Hermitian
eigenvalue
operator (observable)
M=
m Pm
m
Pm is the projector onto the eigenspace of M with
eigenvalue m
Pm|
After the measurement the state will be p(m) with
probability p(m) = |Pm| .
e.g. measurement of a qubit in the computational basis
measuring | = |0 + |1 gives:

|0 with probability |00| = |0||2 = ||2

|1 with probability |11| = |1||2 = ||2

Duals and Inner Products are used in measurements

< |

This is inner product not

tensor product!

Remember this is a
number

We prove from general properties of operators

Duals as Row Vectors

To do bra from ket you need

transpose and conjugate to make
a row vector of conjugates.

General
Measurement

To prove it it is sufficient
to substitute the old base
and calculate, as shown

Illustration of some formalisms used, you can

calculate measurements from there

i
cos 0 e sin 1
2
2
1 0

z
0

e i

0 1

x
1
0

0 i

y
i
0

0 1
State Vector

Z
0

cos sin

sin

cos

Y ( )

cos
i sin

X ( )

* t
e
Density State

i sin

cos

* e t

Postulate 3, rough form

This is calculate as in
previous slide

The Measurement Problem

Can we deduce postulate 3

from 1 and 2?

Joke. Do not try it. Slides are from MIT.

More examples how Measurement Operators

act on the state space of a quantum system
Measurement operators act on the state space of a quantum system
Initial state:

Operate on the state space with an operator that preservers unitary evolution:

H op 0

0 1
2

Define a collection of measurement operators for our state space:

M1 1 1

M0 0 0

Act on the state space of our system with measurement operators:

1 0 1 1 1
1

1 1
0 0
2
0 0 2 1 2

0 0 1 1 1
1

1 1
1 1
2
0 1 2 1 2

Mixed States
Suppose one only knows of a system that it is in one of a
statistical ensemble of state vectors vi (pure states), each
with density matrix i and probability Pi. This is called a
mixed state.
This ensemble is completely described, for all physical
purposes, by the expectation
value (weighted average) of density matrices:

Note: even if there were uncountably many state vectors vi, the state remains
i n is the number of basis
fully described by <n2 complex numbers, iwhere
states!

Measurement of a state vector using

projective measurement
Operate on the state space with an operator that preservers unitary evolution:
0

H op 0

0 1
2

Define observables:
0 i

y
i 0

0 1

x
1 0

1 0

z
0 1

Act on the state space of our system with observables

(The average value of measurement outcome after lots of
measurements):
1 0 1
1 0
1

1 1
2
2
0 1
0 1

0 1 1
0 1
1

1 1
2
2
1 0
1 0

1
1
1

0 i 1
0 i
1

1 1
2
2
i 0
i 0

1
0
1

1
0
1

This type of measurement represents

the limit as the number of
measurements goes to infinity

Here 3 may be enough, in general you need

four

The Density Matrix and the Trace

Ensembles of quantum states, basic definitions and importance(1)

Quantum states can be expressed as a density

matrix:

pi i i
i

A system with n quantum states has n entries across

the diagonal of the density matrix. The nth entry of
the diagonal corresponds to the probability of the
system being measured in the nth quantum state.
The off diagonal correlations are zeroed out by
decoherence.
U U *T

The Density Matrix and the Trace

Ensembles of quantum states, basic definitions and importance (2)

Unitary operations on a density matrix are

expressed as:
New density
matrix

Old density
matrix

piU i i U UU
i

In other words the diagonal is left as weights

corresponding to the current states projection onto the
computational basis after acted on by the unitary
operator U, much like an inner product.

U U *T

The Density Matrix and the Trace

Ensembles of quantum states, basic definitions and importance

Trace of a matrix (sum of the diagonal elements):

tr ( A) A
Unitary operators are trace preserving. The trace of a pure
state is 1, all information about the system is known.
Operators Commute under the action of the trace:
ii

tr ( XY ) tr (YX )
U U *T

Partial Trace trB ( AB ) (defined by linearity)

If you want to know about the nth state in a system, you
can trace over the other states.

trB ( a1 a 2 b1 b 2 ) a1 a 2 tr ( b1 b 2 )

Measurement of a density state

Initial state:

0
00 00
0

0
0
0
0

0
0

0
0
0
0

Operate on the state space with an operator that preservers unitary evolution (H gate first bit):

' H1 I 00
Now act on system with CNOT gate:

00 H1 I

U1 U

' CNOT12 U 1 U 1 CNOT12 U 2,1 U 2,1

1 0

2 0

0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

We still define collections of measurement operators to act on the state space of our system:

M 0 00 00

M 1 01 01

M 2 10 10

M 3 11 11

0
0

REMINDER: Ensemble point of view

Imagine that a quantum system is in the state j with
probability pj .
Probability of outcome k being in state
j

We do a measurement described by projectors Pk .

Probability of outcome k Pr k | state j pj

k

j Pk j pj
k

pj tr j j Pk
k

Probability
of being in
state j

Probability of outcome k tr Pk

where pj j j is the density matrix.

j

completely determines all measurement statistics.

Measurement of a density state

The probability that a result m occurs is given by the equation:
0

0

p(m)=
p (m) tr M m M
m tr M m tr
0

0

trB ( a1 a 2 b1 b 2 ) a1 a 2 tr ( b1 b 2 )

0 0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 2 0 0

0 0 1 1 0

0 tr 1P

0 0 1

0 0
2

0 1
k

M3
recall

Probability of outcome k tr

For most of our purposes we can just use

state vectors.

Pk

Postulate 3:
Quantum Measurement

Now we can formulate

precisely the Postulate 3

Now we use this notation for

an Example of Qubit
Measurement

What happens to a system after a

Measurement?
After a system or subsystem is measured from outside, its
state appears to collapse to exactly match the measured
outcome
the amplitudes of all states perfectly distinguishable from states
consistent with that outcome drop to zero
states consistent with measured outcome can be considered
renormalized so their probabilities sum to 1

This collapse seems nonunitary (& nonlocal)

However, this behavior is now explicable as the expected consensus

phenomenon that would be experienced even by entities within a
closed, perfectly unitarily-evolving world (Everett, Zurek).

Distinguishability
Recall that M
is
measurement
operator

On the other hand

Thus we have contradiction, states can be

distinguished unless they are orthogonal

Projective Measurements:
Average Values and Standard
Deviations
Observable:
Can write:
Average value of a measurement:

Standard deviation of a measurement:

Irrelevance of
global phase

Phase

Postulate 4:
Composite
Systems

Compound Systems
Let C=AB be a system composed of two
separate subsystems A, B each with vector
spaces A, B with bases |ai, |bj.

The state space of C is a vector space

C=A B given by the tensor product
of spaces A and B, with basis states
labeled as |aibj.

Composition example
The state space of a composite physical system is
the tensor product of the state spaces of the
components

n qubits represented by a 2n-dimensional Hilbert space

composite state is | = |1 |2 . . . |n
e.g. 2 qubits:
|1 = 1|0 + 1|1
|2 = 2|0 + 2|1
| = |1 |2 = 12|00 + 12|01 + 12|10 + 12|11

entanglement

2 qubits are entangled if | |1 |2 for any |1, |2

e.g. | = |00 + |11

Entanglement
If the state of compound system C can be
expressed as a tensor product of states of two
independent subsystems A and B,
c = ab,
then, we say that A and B are not entangled, and
they have individual states.
E.g. |00+|01+|10+|11=(|0+|1)(|0+|1)

Otherwise, A and B are entangled (basically

correlated); their states are not independent.
E.g. |00+|11

Entanglement

Entanglement

Some convenctions implicit in postulate 4

Quantum Entanglement

We assume that we
can factorize as
tensor product of |a>
and |b>

Leads to
contradiction

Superdense
Coding

Multiple-Qubit Systems

Postulate 4

Example to calculate state of a composite system from

previous state of it (problem possible for final exam)

Size of Compound State Spaces

Note that a system composed of many separate
subsystems has a very large state space.
Say it is composed of N subsystems, each with k
basis states:

The compound system has kN basis states!

There are states of the compound system having
nonzero amplitude in all these kN basis states!
In such states, all the distinguishable basis states are
(simultaneously) possible outcomes (each with some
corresponding probability)
Illustrates the many worlds nature of quantum
mechanics.

Postulate 4:
Composite Systems

Summary on Postulates
Hilbert Space

Evolution

Measurement

Tensor Product

Key Points to Remember:

An abstractly-specified system may have many possible
states; only some are distinguishable.
A quantum state/vector/wavefunction assigns a complexvalued amplitude (si) to each distinguishable state si (out
of some basis set)
The probability of state si is |(si)|2, the square of (si)s
length in the complex plane.
States evolve over time via unitary (invertible, lengthpreserving) transformations.
Statistical mixtures of states are represented by weighted
sums of density matrices =||.

Key points to
remember

The Schrdinger Equation

The Hamiltonian
The Evolution Matrix
How complicated is a single Quantum Bit?
Measurement
Measurement operators
Measurement of a state vector using projective
measurement
Density Matrix and the Trace
Ensembles of quantum states, basic definitions and
importance
Measurement of a density state

Bibliography & acknowledgements

Michael A. Nielsen and Isaac L. Chuang, Quantum
Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2002
V. Bulitko, On quantum Computing and AI, Notes for
a graduate class, University of Alberta, 2002
R. Mann,M.Mosca, Introduction to Quantum
Computation, Lecture series, Univ. Waterloo, 2000
http://cacr.math.uwaterloo.ca/~mmosca/quantumcour
sef00.htm
D. Fotin, Introduction to Quantum Computing
Summer School, University of Alberta, 2002.

Additional
Slides

General Measurements
in compound spaces

Uncertainty
Principle

Positive Operator-Valued
Measurements (POVM)