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The extreme points of the state space are exactly the pure states
Statement
Assume the Axiom of Countable Choice. Let be a complex Hilbert space and let be its state space (The state space: density operators, pure and mixed states, and purity), regarded as a subset of the real vector space of self-adjoint trace-class operators, closed under finite real convex combinations by The state space is convex, closed under countable mixtures, and complete in the trace norm. Call a state an extreme point of when holds for all real with and all . Then is an extreme point of if and only if is a pure state.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The Hilbert space ; a state ; states and a real with where a decomposition is assumed.
The state space and purity (The state space: density operators, pure and mixed states, and purity, Purity, spectral weights and the criterion for a pure state): a state is a self-adjoint positive trace-class operator of trace ; it is pure exactly when it equals for some unit vector ; for a state with positive eigenvalues counted with multiplicity one has , each , , and is mixed exactly when it has at least two positive eigenvalues.
Convexity and countable mixtures (The state space is convex, closed under countable mixtures, and complete in the trace norm): is a convex subset of the real vector space of self-adjoint trace-class operators, and every countable probability-weighted sum with , , , converges in trace norm to an element of .
Spectral expansion of a state (Density operators and scalar spectral probability clause (a), Spectral theorem for compact self adjoint operators): a state equals for its positive eigenvalues counted with multiplicity and an orthonormal family of eigenvectors . For the spectral theorem, let be the set of distinct nonzero eigenvalues of , and for let be the orthogonal projection onto . Then in norm, the sum being indexed by distinct eigenvalues; the closed span of those eigenspaces is , and . Positivity makes every member of positive, and the positive eigenvalues counted with multiplicity are exactly the from the density expansion.
Norm and trace bounds for states (Trace class is a two sided Banach operator ideal, Trace of a positive operator is the sum of its eigenvalues, Cauchy–Schwarz: , with equality exactly for dependent pairs, The operator norm as the least bound and as the unit-sphere or unit-ball supremum): for trace-class one has ; for a positive trace-class one has ; hence for every state ; and with equality if and only if are linearly dependent.
Pure states and projections (Rays, unit vectors and rank-one Hilbert projections): for the operator is the Hilbert orthogonal projection onto with and , and for unit vectors one has if and only if for some ; distinct rays therefore give distinct pure states.
Extremality convention and real scalars (A field is a vector space over itself, and over any subfield every -vector space is a -vector space by restricting the scalars): a point of a set is read as extreme when every representation with and real forces ; this is the condition displayed in the statement and used below. The space is read as a real vector space by restricting scalars from to .
Orthogonal projections (The Hilbert orthogonal projection onto a closed subspace): the Hilbert projection is characterised by and ; a one-dimensional subspace with equals the range of by [F5].
Proof
[(pure extreme) the quadratic forms are pinned to one] Assume with and with . Then by [F5] and the definition of , so . Every state satisfies by positivity and by [F4]; a real convex combination with weights of two numbers equals only if both numbers equal . Hence .
[(pure extreme) the first component fixes ] For the state we have the chain by [F4]; all inequalities are therefore equalities, so equality holds in the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality for the pair , and the equality case of [F4] gives for a scalar because . Taking the pairing with gives , so . The same argument gives .
[(pure extreme) a state fixing equals ] Let with . By [F3] its positive eigenvalues , counted with multiplicity, satisfy , and is an eigenvector with eigenvalue . If is the multiplicity of eigenvalue , then with a nonnegative second sum, so and there is no other positive eigenvalue. Thus is one-dimensional and contains , so . By the distinct-eigenvalue decomposition in [F3], the closed span of the positive eigenspaces is now and ; hence is the orthogonal projection onto . By [F7] and [F5] this projection is . Applying this to and to gives ; hence every representation of as a nontrivial convex combination is trivial, and is an extreme point by [F6].
[(mixed not extreme) an explicit splitting] Assume now that is not pure. By [F1] the state has at least two positive eigenvalues; list them with multiplicity as with orthonormal eigenvectors , so . Put The expansion of [F3] for turns the displayed definitions into countable mixtures of the pure states with weights , , ; these weights are nonnegative because and , and they sum to ; hence by [F2]. Moreover , and , which is nonzero because are orthogonal unit vectors and hence not phase multiples of one another, so that by [F5]. Thus the representation with is a nontrivial convex representation with , and is not an extreme point by [F6].
[Conclusion] Steps 1.1, 2.1 and 3.1 show that every pure state is extreme, and step 4.1 shows that every non-pure state is not extreme. Hence the extreme points of are exactly the pure states.
Depends on
The state space is convex, closed under countable mixtures, and complete in the trace norm
Purity, spectral weights and the criterion for a pure state
Rays, unit vectors and rank-one Hilbert projections
The state space: density operators, pure and mixed states, and purity
Density operators and scalar spectral probability
Spectral theorem for compact self adjoint operators
Trace of a positive operator is the sum of its eigenvalues
Trace class is a two sided Banach operator ideal
Cauchy–Schwarz: , with equality exactly for dependent pairs
The operator norm as the least bound and as the unit-sphere or unit-ball supremum
The Hilbert orthogonal projection onto a closed subspace
Self-adjoint, positive, unitary and normal operators
A field is a vector space over itself, and over any subfield every -vector space is a -vector space by restricting the scalars
The Axiom of Countable Choice ()
Dependency tree · 2 levels
Sources
- J. Preskill, Lecture Notes for Ph219/CS219: Quantum Information, Chapter 2 (updated July 2015), Section 2.5.1, printed pages 26-27: the pure states are extremal points of the set of density matrices, and only the pure states are extremal, since every mixed state is a convex sum of pure states
- J. Binney and D. Skinner, The Physics of Quantum Mechanics, Section 6.3, printed pages 121-126: a mixed state is a probability mixture of pure states, and a pure state is the special case of a single term
- G. Teschl, Topics in Real and Functional Analysis (17 November 2017), Section 3.6, printed pages 96-100: positive trace-class operators, their eigenvalue decompositions and their traces