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Hemiticity of Operators

Use the fact that any physical operator tex2html_wrap_inline437 must be Hermitian ( tex2html_wrap_inline439 for all functions tex2html_wrap_inline441 and tex2html_wrap_inline443 ) to show that the wave funcions tex2html_wrap_inline445 and tex2html_wrap_inline447 of any two pure states with respect to the observable tex2html_wrap_inline449 of different values tex2html_wrap_inline451 must obey tex2html_wrap_inline453 . This property is known as ``orthogonality.''

Hint: Consider the relationships among tex2html_wrap_inline455 , tex2html_wrap_inline457 , and tex2html_wrap_inline459 and be sure to use the fact that tex2html_wrap_inline437 is Hermitian.



Prof. Tomas Alberto Arias
Thu Mar 20 17:04:34 EST 1997