8 - Density operators

Summary

Beyond state vectors

We cannot always assign a definite state vector |ψ〉 to a quantum system Q. It may be that Q is part of a composite system RQ that is in an entangled state |Ψ^(RQ)〉. Or it may be that our knowledge of the preparation of Q is insufficient to determine a particular state |ψ〉. Consider, for instance, a qubit sent from Alice to Bob during the BB84 key distribution protocol from Section 4.4. The state of this qubit could be |0〉, |1〉, |+〉 or |−〉, each with equal likelihood. In either case – whether Q is a subsystem of an entangled system, or the state of Q is determined by a probabilistic process – we cannot specify a quantum state vector |ψ〉 for Q.

Nevertheless, in either case we are in a position to make statistical predictions about the outcomes of measurements on Q. In this chapter we describe the mathematical machinery for doing this.

Mixtures of states

Suppose the state of Q arises by a random process, so that the state |ψ_α〉 is prepared with probability p_α. The possible states |ψ_α〉 need not be orthogonal (as you can see in the BB84 example above). We call this situation a mixture of the states |ψ_α〉, or a mixed state for short.

One way to interpret a mixed state is to return to the idea of an ensemble of systems, which we introduced in Section 3.3.