Physlib.QuantumMechanics.Operators.Unbounded
Unbounded operators
i. Overview
The appropriate mathematical objects for discussing operators in non-relativistic quantum mechanics are partially-defined linear map (`LinearPMap`) between complex Hilbert spaces, `H →ₗ.[ℂ] H'`. An import class of operators in NRQM are those which are both densely defined and closable, which we refer to as _unbounded_. When `H = H'` operators may also be symmetric, self-adjoint or essentially self-adjoint (closure is self-adjoint).
In this module we collect results on how the properties `HasDenseDomain`, `IsUnbounded`, `IsSymmetric`, `IsSelfAdjoint` and `IsEssentiallySelfAdjoint` interact with the basic algebraic operations, closure, adjoints, unitary conjugation and each other.
Notes
- Naming convention : Definitions of `LinearPMap`s for quantum mechanical unbounded operators should have a name of the form `[…]Operator` and notation should use calligraphic capital letters, e.g. `mulOperator f` (`𝓜 f`) for the multiplication operator associated with the function `f`.
- Implementation : Although operators encountered in quantum mechanics are almost always unbounded, we opt to implement unbounded operators via the property `IsUnbounded` on `LinearPMap` rather than as a structure `UnboundedOperator` extending `LinearPMap`. The basic reason for this is that addition/subtraction and composition of unbounded operators in general does not result in another unbounded operator. This means, for example, that any attempt to define addition of `UnboundedOperator`s would inevitably require introducing junk values that spoil associativity.
ii. Key results
Definitions - `HasDenseDomain` : An operator `U : H →ₗ.[ℂ] H'` has dense domain if `U.domain` is dense in `H`. - `IsUnbounded` : An operator is unbounded if it is both densely defined and closable. - `IsSymmetric` : An operator `T : H →ₗ.[ℂ] H` is symmetric if `⟪T x, y⟫_ℂ = ⟪x, T y⟫_ℂ` holds for all `x y : T.domain`. - `IsEssentiallySelfAdjoint` : An operator `T : H →ₗ.[ℂ] H` is essentially self-adjoint if its closure is self-adjoint.
Results - `adjoint_add_le_add_adjoint` : The inequality `U₁† + U₂† ≤ (U₁ + U₂)†` when `U₁ + U₂` has dense domain. - `unitaryConj` : The conjugation `u A u⁻¹ : H' →ₗ.[ℂ] H'` of `A` by a unitary `u`, with domain `u (A.domain)`. - `IsFormalAdjoint.unitaryConj` : Unitary conjugation preserves formal-adjoint pairs. - `HasDenseDomain.unitaryConj_dense_domain` : If `A` has dense domain, then so does `u A u⁻¹`. - `unitaryConj_sub_smul_surjective` : If `A - z` is surjective for a scalar `z : ℂ`, then so is `u A u⁻¹ - z`. - `adjoint_compRestricted_le_compRestricted_adjoint` : The inequality `U† ∘ᵣ V† ≤ (V ∘ᵣ U)†` when `V` and `V ∘ᵣ U` have dense domain. - `IsEssentiallySelfAdjoint.unique_self_adjoint_extension` : The closure of an essentially self-adjoint unbounded operator is its unique self-adjoint extension. - `IsUnbounded.adjoint` : The adjoint of an unbounded operator is also unbounded. - `IsUnbounded.adjoint_closure_eq_adjoint` : An unbounded operator and its closure have the same adjoint. - `IsUnbounded.adjoint_adjoint_eq_closure` : An unbounded operator `U` satisfies `U†† = U.closure`.
iii. Table of contents
- A. Definitions - B. Basic properties - B.1. Dense domain - B.2. Closability - B.3. Adjoints - B.4. Continuity / boundedness - B.5. Unitary conjugation - C. Classes of operators - C.1. Symmetric operators - C.2. Self-adjoint operators - C.3. Essentially self-adjoint operators - C.4. Unbounded operators
iv. References
- [Reed and Simon, *Methods of Modern Mathematical Physics, Vol. I: Functional Analysis*][Reed1972]
- [Konrad Schmüdgen, *Unbounded Self-Adjoint Operators on Hilbert Space*][Schmudgen2012]
A. Definitions
See `LinearPMap.instStar` and `LinearPMap.isSelfAdjoint_def` for the definition of `IsSelfAdjoint` for `LinearPMap`s.
B. Basic properties
B.1. Dense domain
B.2. Closability
B.3. Adjoints
B.4. Continuity / boundedness
B.5. Unitary conjugation
C. Classes of operators
C.1. Symmetric operators
C.2. Self-adjoint operators
C.3. Essentially self-adjoint operators
C.4. Unbounded operators
71 declarations
is dense in
Let and be Hilbert spaces over . For a linear partial map from to , this property holds if the domain of , denoted as , is a dense subspace of .
Let and be Hilbert spaces over . For any linear partial map , the property holds if and only if the domain of is a dense subset of .
is a densely defined and closable operator
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For a partially defined linear map from to , the predicate `LinearPMap.IsUnbounded` holds if the domain of is dense in and is a closable operator.
An operator is "unbounded" if and only if it is densely defined and closable
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For a partially defined linear operator from to , is defined as an "unbounded operator" if and only if is densely defined (i.e., its domain is dense in ) and is closable.
Symmetry of a partially defined linear operator
Let be a complex Hilbert space. A partially defined linear operator on (represented by a `LinearPMap`) is said to be **symmetric** if for every pair of vectors in the domain of , the inner product satisfies the condition: where denotes the inner product on .
is symmetric is formally adjoint to
Let be a complex inner product space. For any partially defined linear operator on (represented as a `LinearPMap`), is symmetric if and only if it is formally adjoint to itself. In this context, is symmetric if for all , and is formally adjoint to if for all and .
is essentially self-adjoint
Let be a complex Hilbert space. A partially defined linear map (of type `LinearPMap`) is **essentially self-adjoint** if it is densely defined and its closure is a self-adjoint operator, such that .
is essentially self-adjoint is self-adjoint
Let be a complex Hilbert space. For a partially defined linear operator on , is essentially self-adjoint if and only if its closure is self-adjoint.
is star-normal
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a partial linear map on . Then is star-normal if and only if , where denotes the adjoint of and the product refers to the restricted composition of partial linear maps. The restricted composition is defined on the domain .
A densely defined operator is unbounded is closable
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a linear operator from a subspace of to (a `LinearPMap`). If the domain of is dense in , then satisfies the definition of an unbounded operator if and only if is closable. Here, an "unbounded operator" is defined as a linear operator that is both densely defined and closable.
The closure of a densely defined operator is densely defined
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a partially defined linear operator. If is densely defined (i.e., its domain is dense in ), then its closure is also densely defined.
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For any partially defined linear operator from to with domain , let denote the closure of the operator . Then the domain of the closure is a subset of the closure of the domain, i.e., .
is dense is dense
Let and be Hilbert spaces. For any partially defined linear operator , the domain of is dense in if and only if the domain of its closure is dense in .
Negation Preserves Density of Domain for Partial Linear Maps
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For any partially defined linear map from to , if has a dense domain, then its negation also has a dense domain.
Scalar Multiplication Preserves Dense Domains of Partial Linear Maps
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For any partially defined linear map , if the domain of is dense in , then for any scalar , the domain of the scalar multiple is also dense in .
Density of the domain of when
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let and be linear partially defined maps from to . If has a dense domain and the domain of is contained within the domain of (i.e., ), then the sum operator also has a dense domain.
is densely defined if is dense and
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let and be linear partial maps from to . If has a dense domain and , then the domain of the difference is also dense in .
Common Dense Submodule implies Dense Domain of a Finite Sum of Partial Linear Maps
Let and be Hilbert spaces over , and let be a finite family of partial linear maps from to . If there exists a submodule of that is dense in and is contained in the domain of each (i.e., for all ), then the sum of these partial linear maps has a dense domain.
is densely defined if is densely defined and
Let be a Hilbert space over and be a partial linear map on with domain . If is densely defined (i.e., is dense in ) and the domain is invariant under (i.e., for all , ), then for every natural number , the -th power of is also densely defined.
If is densely defined, then is densely defined for
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a linear partial map from to itself. For any natural number , if the domain of the -th power (defined via restricted composition) is dense in , then for any natural number such that , the domain of is also dense in .
Let and be Hilbert spaces over , where is a complete space. Let be a linear operator with a dense domain . Then the orthogonal complement of the range of is equal to the kernel of its adjoint operator : Here, denotes the set of vectors in orthogonal to the image of , and denotes the subspace of vectors such that .
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For any densely defined linear operator , the orthogonal complement of the kernel of its adjoint operator is equal to the closure of the range of . That is, where denotes the kernel of the adjoint operator, denotes the orthogonal complement, and denotes the closure of the range of .
If is closed, then
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. For any partially defined linear map from to , if is a closed operator, then its closure is equal to .
A closable operator is closed
Let and be Hilbert spaces over . For any partially defined linear operator , if is closable, then is closed if and only if , where denotes the closure of .
Existence of a densely defined formal adjoint implies is closable
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a linear operator defined on a dense subspace taking values in . If there exists a densely defined linear operator from to that is a formal adjoint of (i.e., for all and ), then is closable.
The zero operator is closable
Let and be Hilbert spaces over . For any partially defined linear operator (represented as a `LinearPMap`), if is the zero operator on its domain, then is closable.
is closable is closable
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, and let be a partially defined linear operator from to . If is closable, then for any complex scalar , the scalar multiple is also closable.
is closable iff is closable for
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, and let be a linear map defined on a subspace of mapping into (a `LinearPMap`). For any non-zero complex scalar (), the operator is closable if and only if is closable.
for linear partial maps
Let and be inner product spaces over . For any linear partial map from to , the negation of the operator is equal to the scalar multiplication of the operator by , that is, .
If is closable, then is closable
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. If a partially defined linear operator is closable, then its negation is also closable.
for
Let and be Hilbert spaces over the complex numbers . For any partially defined linear operator from to and any non-zero scalar , the closure of the scalar multiple is equal to the scalar multiple of the closure of :
The Adjoint of the Identity Operator is the Identity ()
Let be a complex Hilbert space. Let denote the identity operator on defined on the entire space (the identity element of the monoid of partial linear maps). Then the adjoint of this identity operator is equal to itself, i.e., .
Let be a Hilbert space and be an inner product space over . For any partially defined linear map from to , if is the zero operator, then its adjoint operator is also the zero operator.
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a complex inner product space. The adjoint of the zero operator is the zero operator .
for
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, and let be a partially defined linear operator. For any non-zero complex scalar , the adjoint of the scalar multiple is given by the product of the complex conjugate and the adjoint , i.e., .
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, with being a complete space. Let and be partially defined linear operators (linear pre-maps) from to . If the sum has a dense domain in , then the sum of the adjoints of and is a restriction of the adjoint of their sum, denoted as .
Let be a Hilbert space and be an inner product space. Let be partially defined linear operators (linear PMaps). If the operator has a dense domain, then the difference of their adjoints is extended by the adjoint of their difference: where denotes the adjoint of and denotes the extension relation for partially defined operators.
for partial linear maps
Let , , and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let and be partial linear maps. If is densely defined and the restricted composition is also densely defined, then the restricted composition of the adjoints is extended by the adjoint of the restricted composition: where denotes the operator adjoint and means that the partial linear map extends (i.e., and for all ).
If is densely defined, then
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a partial linear operator on . For any natural number , if the -th power of the operator (defined via restricted composition) has a dense domain, then the -th power of the adjoint of is a restriction of the adjoint of the -th power of . That is, where denotes the adjoint of , and the relation indicates that the operator is an extension of the operator .
Continuity of a linear map is equivalent to its boundedness
Let be a nontrivially normed field, and let and be seminormed spaces over . A linear map is continuous if and only if it is bounded, i.e., there exists a constant such that for all , .
Continuous Partially Defined Linear Maps are Closable
Let and be complex inner product spaces. For any partially defined linear map , if is continuous on its domain , then is a closable operator.
for continuous operators
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, and let be a partially defined linear operator from to with domain . If is continuous on its domain, then the domain of its operator closure is equal to the topological closure of its domain, denoted as .
A continuous linear operator is closed its domain is closed
Let and be complex inner product spaces, and assume is a complete space (a Hilbert space). Let be a linear operator with domain . If is continuous on its domain, then is a closed operator if and only if its domain is a closed subspace of .
The graph of a closed operator is closed
Let and be Hilbert spaces over , and let be a partially defined linear operator from to . If is a closed operator, then its graph, , is a closed subset of .
A Closed Operator with a Closed Domain is Continuous
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a partially defined linear operator. If is a closed operator and its domain is a closed subspace of , then is continuous on its domain.
If is closable and is continuous, then is closable
Let and be Hilbert spaces over . Let and be partially defined linear operators from to . If is closable, is continuous, and the domain of is contained within the domain of (), then the sum operator is closable.
Closability of for continuous
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let and be partially defined linear operators from to with domains and , respectively. If is closable, is continuous, and , then the operator (defined on ) is also closable.
The sum of a closed operator and a continuous operator is closed
Let and be complex inner product spaces, where is a complete space (a Hilbert space). Let and be partially defined linear maps from to . If is a closed operator, is continuous on its domain, and the domain of is contained within the domain of (), then the sum is also a closed operator.
If is closed and is continuous, then is closed
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, with being a complete space. Let and be partially defined linear operators from to . If is a closed operator, is a continuous operator, and the domain of is contained in the domain of (), then the operator is also a closed operator.
Unitary conjugation of an operator
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Given a partially defined linear operator on and a unitary operator , the unitary conjugation is a partially defined linear operator on with domain and the action defined by for all . Since and are -linear, the resulting operator is also -linear.
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a partially defined linear operator on and be a unitary operator. For any vector , is in the domain of the unitarily conjugated operator if and only if is in the domain of . That is, .
Formula for the action of unitarily conjugated operator
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a partially defined linear operator on and be a unitary operator. For any vector in the domain of the unitarily conjugated operator , the value of the operator at is given by In this expression, the vector is an element of the domain of .
maps into
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a partially defined linear operator on and be a unitary operator. For any vector in the domain of , its image is contained in the domain of the unitary conjugation .
Action of Unitary Conjugation
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces. Let be a partially defined linear operator on with domain , and let be a unitary operator. For any vector , the action of the unitary conjugation on the image vector is given by
Unitary conjugation preserves formal adjointness
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces and be a unitary operator. Let and be partially defined linear operators on (of type ). If is a formal adjoint of , then the unitary conjugation is a formal adjoint of as partially defined linear operators on .
Unitary conjugation preserves dense domain
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, and let be a partially defined linear operator on . If the domain of , denoted by , is dense in , then for any unitary operator , the domain of the unitary conjugation is dense in .
Unitary conjugation preserves surjectivity of
Let and be complex Hilbert spaces, be a partially defined linear operator on , and be a unitary operator. For any complex scalar , if the operator (where is the identity operator) is surjective, then the operator is also surjective on .
Polarization identity for the inner product
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a partially defined linear map (a `LinearPMap`) on . For any elements and in the domain of , the inner product of and satisfies the polarization identity: where denotes the inner product on and is the imaginary unit.
Polarization identity for
Let be a complex Hilbert space and let be a partially defined linear operator on with domain . For any , the inner product satisfies the polarization identity: where is the imaginary unit and the inner product is linear in the second argument and conjugate-linear in the first.
is symmetric
Let be a complex inner product space and be a partially defined linear operator on . Then is symmetric if and only if for every in the domain of , the inner product of and is a real number, i.e.,
Symmetric densely defined operators are closable
Let be a complex Hilbert space. Let be a linear operator with domain (represented as a `LinearPMap`). If is symmetric (i.e., for all ) and has a dense domain in , then is closable.
A symmetric operator is densely defined and closable iff its domain is dense
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a linear operator on with a partial domain. If is symmetric (i.e., for all in the domain of ), then is a densely defined and closable operator if and only if the domain of is dense in .
is symmetric
Let be a complex Hilbert space. For a densely defined linear operator on (represented as a `LinearPMap`), is symmetric if and only if , where denotes the adjoint operator and the relation signifies that is an extension of .
A symmetric operator is self-adjoint
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a densely defined symmetric linear operator on . Then is self-adjoint if and only if the domain of its adjoint is equal to the domain of .
is symmetric
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a linear operator on with a dense domain. Then the operator , representing the sum of and its adjoint , is symmetric.
If is symmetric, then is symmetric
Let be a complex inner product space and be a partially defined linear map on . If is symmetric, meaning for all , then for any natural number , the -th power (defined via restricted composition) is also symmetric.
If is symmetric, then is symmetric
Let be a complex Hilbert space and let be a linear partial map (a linear operator defined on a subspace of ). If is symmetric, then its negation is also symmetric.
The closure of a densely defined symmetric operator is symmetric
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a partially defined linear operator on with a dense domain. If is symmetric, such that for all , then its closure is also symmetric.
for symmetric operators
Let be a complex Hilbert space. If is a densely defined symmetric linear operator on , then the closure of , denoted by , is a restriction of the adjoint of , denoted by . That is, .
is essentially self-adjoint
Let be a complete complex Hilbert space and let be a densely defined symmetric linear operator on . Then is essentially self-adjoint if and only if the domain of its adjoint is equal to the domain of its closure , denoted by .
Surjectivity of implies Self-Adjointness for Symmetric Operators
Let be a complex Hilbert space and be a densely defined symmetric operator on . If the operators and (where is the imaginary unit and is the identity operator) are both surjective—that is, their ranges are equal to the entire space —then is self-adjoint.
