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The operator is said to be positive-definite, and written >, if , >, for all {}. [ 1 ] Many authors define a positive operator A {\displaystyle A} to be a self-adjoint (or at least symmetric) non-negative operator.
In mathematics, a symmetric matrix with real entries is positive-definite if the real number is positive for every nonzero real column vector, where is the row vector transpose of . [1] More generally, a Hermitian matrix (that is, a complex matrix equal to its conjugate transpose) is positive-definite if the real number is positive for every nonzero complex column vector , where denotes the ...
Hermitian form, a specific sesquilinear form; Hermitian function, a complex function whose complex conjugate is equal to the original function with the variable changed in sign; Hermitian manifold/structure Hermitian metric, is a smoothly varying positive-definite Hermitian form on each fiber of a complex vector bundle
Normal operators are important because the spectral theorem holds for them. The class of normal operators is well understood. Examples of normal operators are unitary operators: N* = N −1; Hermitian operators (i.e., self-adjoint operators): N* = N; skew-Hermitian operators: N* = −N; positive operators: N = MM* for some M (so N is self-adjoint).
The general form of an inner product on is known as the Hermitian form and is given by , = † = † ¯, where is any Hermitian positive-definite matrix and † is the conjugate transpose of . For the real case, this corresponds to the dot product of the results of directionally-different scaling of the two vectors, with positive scale factors ...
A further property of a Hermitian operator is that eigenfunctions corresponding to different eigenvalues are orthogonal. [1] In matrix form, operators allow real eigenvalues to be found, corresponding to measurements. Orthogonality allows a suitable basis set of vectors to represent the state of the quantum system.
Positive-definiteness arises naturally in the theory of the Fourier transform; it can be seen directly that to be positive-definite it is sufficient for f to be the Fourier transform of a function g on the real line with g(y) ≥ 0.
Similar arguments about the Hilbert inner product (which can be demonstrated to be a Hermitian form, therefore justifying the name "inner product") lead to the conclusion that its neutral space is precisely = (+) (), that elements of this neutral space have zero Hilbert inner product with any element of , and that the Hilbert inner product is ...