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The commutator of two operators acting on a Hilbert space is a central concept in quantum mechanics, since it quantifies how well the two observables described by these operators can be measured simultaneously. The uncertainty principle is ultimately a theorem about such commutators, by virtue of the Robertson–Schrödinger relation. [7]
In quantum mechanics, a complete set of commuting observables (CSCO) is a set of commuting operators whose common eigenvectors can be used as a basis to express any quantum state. In the case of operators with discrete spectra, a CSCO is a set of commuting observables whose simultaneous eigenspaces span the Hilbert space and are linearly ...
The momentum operator can be described as a symmetric (i.e. Hermitian), unbounded operator acting on a dense subspace of the quantum state space. If the operator acts on a (normalizable) quantum state then the operator is self-adjoint. In physics the term Hermitian often refers to both symmetric and self-adjoint operators. [7] [8]
According to the standard mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, quantum observables such as ^ and ^ should be represented as self-adjoint operators on some Hilbert space. It is relatively easy to see that two operators satisfying the above canonical commutation relations cannot both be bounded .
The mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics (QM) is built upon the concept of an operator. Physical pure states in quantum mechanics are represented as unit-norm vectors (probabilities are normalized to one) in a special complex Hilbert space. Time evolution in this vector space is given by the application of the evolution operator.
Canonical commutation rule for position q and momentum p variables of a particle, 1927.pq − qp = h/(2πi).Uncertainty principle of Heisenberg, 1927. The uncertainty principle, also known as Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle, is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics.
The commutation property ... is an example of a one-dimensional quantum harmonic ... Creation and annihilation operators – Operators useful in quantum mechanics;
Specifically, the position and momentum operators in quantum mechanics, usually denoted and , satisfy the canonical commutation relation: [,] = where is the identity operator. It follows that X {\displaystyle X} and P {\displaystyle P} commute with their commutator.