Exercise Sheet 2
Quantum Information - Summer Semester 2020
RWTH Aachen
Valentin Bruch, Fernando Martinez, Pedro Parrado
Due: 20 April 2020, 12.00
Problem 1 Bloch representation for pure qubit states (3, 3, 4)
A qubit system is associated with a two dimensional complex Hilbert space H2 . However, the
pure state of a qubit can be conveniently visualized as a point on the unit sphere in another
space, as a point in R3 .
As illustrated, we can parametrize states in H2 as
|ψi = cos(θ/2) |0i + sin(θ/2)eiϕ |1i (1)
using spherical coordinates θ and ϕ in R3 .
z
|0i
θ |ψi
y
ϕ
x
|1i
Figure 1: The Bloch sphere.
(a) Why can we in this problem instead of the original Hilbert space C2 work with a sphere?
Explain why we need only two parameters to define a state although a vector in C2 is
parametrized by 4 real numbers. Why must a state vector be constrained to be normalized?
Hint: Can we observe a global phase of a state?
(b) Give the states represented by the six vectors ±~ex,y,z lying on the Cartesian axes.
(c) Show that any two pure states are orthogonal in C2 if and only if they are represented by
opposite vectors on the Bloch sphere in R3 .
Hint: Since 0 ≤ θ ≤ π, you can use sin(θ/2), cos(θ/2) ∈ [0, 1]
Problem 2 Bloch representation for mixed qubit states (2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2)
The space of 2×2 complex matrices is a four-dimensional linear space over C. In this linear space,
denoted C2×2 , each matrix is considered as a “vector”. Equipped with the Hilbert-Schmidt inner
product of two matrices, defined by
(A|B) := Tr{A† B} where A, B ∈ C2×2 ,
this space becomes a Hilbert space, which is distinct from the Hilbert space of state vectors,
which we denote H.
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Exercise sheet 2 Quantum Information SS2020 20 April 2020, 12.00
(a) Show that the set {1, X, Y, Z} constitutes an orthogonal basis in the Hilbert space C2×2 ,
where 1 denotes the identity matrix and X, Y and Z are the Pauli matrices.
Hint: use the results from problem 1 on the first exercise sheet
It follows that every matrix A ∈ C2×2 can be expanded as A = 12 (c1 + xX + yY + zZ), where
c, x, y, z ∈ C. (The prefactor of 21 is purely conventional.)
(b) Density matrices for single-qubit states are a special case of 2 × 2 complex matrices. Show
that any single-qubit mixed state ρ can be written as
1 1
ρ = (1 + ~r · ~σ ) = (1 + xX + yY + zZ),
2 2
where ~σ = X Y Z is a vector consisting of the three Pauli matrices and ~r = x y z ∈
R3 is a real vector such that |~r| ≤ 1. This vector is called the Bloch vector.
Hint: You may use that a density matrix must have only non-negative eigenvalues.
(c) Show that a state ρ is pure, i.e. ρ = |ψi hψ|, if and only if Tr ρ2 = 1.
Hint: Remember the connection of Tr A and the eigenvalues of A
(d) Use the previous result to show that ~r represents a pure state if and only if |~r| = 1.
(e) Verify that this definition of the Bloch vector is consistent with Eq. (1) of problem 1 for
pure states.
(f ) Give the Bloch vectors corresponding to the following states, and draw them on the Bloch
sphere:
1/2 0 3/4 (i + 1)/6 1/2 1/2
, , .
0 1/2 −(i − 1)/6 1/4 1/2 1/2
(g) In (e) we found that the points on the surface of the Bloch ball represent pure states and
thus the mixed states form the interior. Argue whether the decomposition of mixed states
in pure ones is unique.
Problem 3 Positivity and hermicity (3, 3, 5)
Positivity of operators is a very important concept in quantum information. An operator A
acting on a finite dimensional Hilbert space H is called positive (precisely: positive semidefinite),
if the diagonal matrix elements are real and positive in any basis:
∀ |ϕi ∈ H : R 3 hϕ| A |ϕi ≥ 0. (2)
We denote the positivity of A as A ≥ 0. Furthermore, A is called hermitian if A† = A.
(a) Show for a complex Hilbert space H that positivity implies hermicity, but that the converse
is not true.
Hint: It is not guaranteed that you can diagonalize A. Any operator A can be written as
A = B + iC where B and C are hermitian.
(b) Now consider a Hilbert space H over the real numbers. Show that in this case positivity
does not imply that a matrix (or matrix reprentation of an operator) is symmetric,
A≥0 6⇒ A = A> .
Do this by constructing a counter-example of a nonsymmetric real and positive 2×2 matrix.
Why is this not a contradiction to task (a)?
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Exercise sheet 2 Quantum Information SS2020 20 April 2020, 12.00
(c) Now consider again a complex Hilbert space H. Is positivity equivalent to “A has only
positive (or zero) eigenvalues” for . . .
(i) hermitian operators,
(ii) diagonalizable operators, and
(iii) non-diagonalizable operators?
Hint: In some of these cases this is not true. Construct real 2 × 2 matrices as counter-
examples for these.
