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23 votes
2 answers
3k views

States in C*-algebras and their origin in physics?

in $C^*-$algebras with unit element, there is the definition of a state, as a functional $\omega$ with $\omega(e)=||\omega||=1.$ Now, of course there is also in classical physics and quantum ...
Acuriousmind's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why does Riesz's Representation Theorem apply in quantum mechanics?

$\DeclareMathOperator\tr{tr}$One begins with a quantum mechanical system, i.e. a unital $C^*$-algebra $A$. It is common to begin the discussion with embedding $A$ into the algebra of bounded operators ...
Andrew NC's user avatar
  • 2,071
6 votes
2 answers
539 views

Is there a reasonable notion of spectral theorem on a pre-Hilbert space?

I'm trying to understand how bad things could possibly get without Cauchy completeness as a criterion for Hilbert spaces in quantum mechanics. Obviously, doing calculus on a pre-Hilbert space would be ...
Sanchayan Dutta's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
552 views

Scattering theory for Coulomb potential

Both physical and mathematical theories of quantum scattering seem to be well developed in the case when the potential (or a more general perturbation of the Laplacian) decays fast enough at infinity ...
asv's user avatar
  • 21.8k
4 votes
1 answer
424 views

Hilbert space representation of a vector in terms of a continuous eigenbasis

Let $\mathscr{H}$ be a complex Hilbert space and $A$ be an Hermitian operator $A: \mathscr{H}\to \mathscr{H}$. Suppose, for a moment, that $A$ has a set of discrete eigenvalues $\{\lambda_{n}\}_{n\in \...
MathMath's user avatar
  • 1,305