PHYS 2912 (Advanced)
Quantum Physics module
Prof Stephen Bartlett
School of Physics
Quantum Measurement – the Born rule
Quantum systems: described by state vectors | i
Measurements: described by a basis of vectors, e.g.,
|+i , | i
Any given atom might go up, or it might go down.
We can only predict the probability of each outcome.
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Example
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Example
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Matrix Notation
Section 1.3 of text
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1.4 " GENERAL QUANTUM SYSTEMS
The machinery we have developed for spin-1/2 systems can be generalized to other quantum systems.
For example, if an observable A yields quantized measurement results an for some finite range of n,
then we generalize the schematic depiction of a Stern-Gerlach measurement to a measurement of the
General Quantum Systems
Section 1.4 of text
!a1"
!Ψin" a1
A a2 !a2"
a3
!a3"
FIGURE 1.15 Generic depiction of the quantum mechanical measurement of observable A.
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Summary – Chapter 1
Your responsibilities for Chapter 1 – Stern-Gerlach experiments
› Lectures cover all of Sections 1.1 through 1.4
› Section 1.5 – Postulates
› not covered
› Problems from text – 1.1 through 1.16
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Operators and Measurement 5
Chapter 2 - McIntyre
Quantum Measurement – the Born rule
Quantum systems: described by state vectors | i
Measurements: described by a basis of vectors, e.g.,
|+i , | i
Any given atom might go up, or it might go down.
We can only predict the probability of each outcome.
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How do I know which basis to use?
Measure in z-direction: Measure in x-direction:
Answer: in quantum mechanics, our measurements are associated with an observable,
which is an operator on our state space.
If we use vector notation, an operator can be viewed as a matrix.
The measurement basis is the eigenbasis of the operator.
The measurement outcomes are the eigenvalues.
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Operators as matrices
How can we express the Sz operator as a matrix?
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