Mixed states and the density matrix

a lecture in Quantum Informatics the 31st of January 2011

G oran Johansson and Thilo Bauch
In this lecture I will introduce the density matrix.
1 A mixed vs a pure state
What is the dierence between saying that the qubit is in a state
|(/2, 0) =
1

2
(|0 +|1) , (1)
and that the qubit has a probability P
0
= 0.5 to be in state |0 and a probability
P
1
= 0.5 to be in state |1 (i.e. a mixed state)? (Discussion) If we perform a
rotation R
y
(/2)|(/2, 0) = |(0, 0) = |0 we have a unit probability for
the qubit to be in state |0. Performing the same on the mixed state we have
the state R
y
(/2)|0 = |(/2, 0) = (|0 |1) /

2 with probability 0.5

and the state R
y
(/2)|1 = |(/2, 0) = (|0 +|1) /

2 with probability 0.5

(see Fig. 1). Performing a read-out after the pulse the pure state gives 0 with
unit probability, while the mixed state gives either state with equal probability.
The way to describe this dierence is the density matrix.
2 The density matrix
We dene a density operator as
=

i
p
i
|
i

i
|, (2)
where p
i
is the probability for the qubit to be in state |
i
. Choosing a arbitrary
basis (1 =

j
|b
j
b
j
|) we get the density matrix with the elements

kl
=

i
p
i
b
k
|
i

i
|b
l
. (3)
Expectation values for any operator

O with matrix elements O
kl
= b
k
|

O|b
l

are given by

O =

i
p
i

i
|

O|
i
=

i
p
i

i
|b
l
b
l
|

O|b
k
b
k
|
i
= (4)
1
(a)
(b)
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
R (- /2)
y
p rotation
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
x
z
y
R (- /2)
y
p rotation
Figure 1: /2 rotation around the y-axis for (a) Ensemble of qubits, with all
qubits in the state (|0 +|1) /

2 (pure state) and (b) Ensemble of qubits with

a probability P
0
= 0.5 of being in state |0 and probability P
1
= 0.5 of being in
state |1 (mixed state).
=

kl
O
lk
=

k
(

O)
kk
= Tr(

O), (5)
where Tr implies taking the trace, i.e. summing over the diagonal elements.
The density-matrix is Hermitian, i.e.
kl
=

lk
, as seen from Eq. 3, and it
has trace unity since
tr( ) =

i
p
i

k
b
k
|
i

i
|b
k
=

i
p
i

i
|b
k
b
k
|
i
=
=

i
p
i

i
|
i
=

i
p
i
= 1. (6)
2
2.1 One density matrix can represent many dierent state
mixtures
Compare the density matrix (in the z-basis as usual) for a fty-fty mixture of
spin up and down in the z-direction

1
=
1
2
[|00| +|11|] , (7)
with the density matrix for a fty-fty mixture of spin up and down in the
x-direction

2
=
1
2
_
1

2
(|0 +|1)
1

2
(0| +1|) +
1

2
(|0 |1)
1

2
(0| 1|)
_
=
=
1
4
[|00| +|11| +|01| +|10| +|00| +|11| |01| |10|] =
=
1
2
[|00| +|11|] =
1
. (8)
2.2 How to recognize a pure state
The density operator of a pure state can be written = ||, so its clear
that
2
= || = || = , so Tr(
2
) = 1. It can be shown that for
a mixed state 0 < Tr(
2
) < 1. We check for the mixed state in the previous
section
Tr(
2
) = Tr
_
1
2
_
1 0
0 1
_

1
2
_
1 0
0 1
__
=
1
4
Tr(1) =
1
2
. (9)
3 The Bloch-sphere for mixed states
An arbitrary single qubit density-matrix can be written
=
1 + r
x

x
+ r
y

y
+ r
z

z
2
, (10)
where r = (r
x
, r
y
, r
z
) is an arbitrary real vector of length |r| 1. We see that
Tr( ) = 1 since Tr(
x
) = Tr(
y
) = Tr(
z
) = 0. Using the trace-formula for
expectation values we nd quickly that

x
= Tr(
x
) = Tr
_
1
2
_
1
x
+ r
x

2
x
+ r
y

x
+ r
z

_
= Tr
_
1
2
r
x
1
_
= r
x
,
(11)
using that Tr(
i

j
) = 0 for i = j. Similarly
y
= r
y
and
z
= r
z
. For pure
states the mapping is identical to the one we discussed last week, and |r| = 1,
i.e the points are on the surface of the Bloch sphere. The fty-fty mixed state
discussed above has the density matrix = 1/2 (see Eq. 7). This correspond to
3
the vector r = (0, 0, 0). In general we see that
Tr(
2
) = Tr
_
1
4
_
1
2
+ 2 (r
x

x
+ r
y

y
+ r
z

z
) + (r
x

x
+ r
y

y
+ r
z

z
)
2
_
_
=
= Tr
_
1 + r
2
x
+ r
2
y
+ r
2
z
4
1
_
=
1 +|r|
2
2
, (12)
so that only the pure states are on the surface of the sphere.
4 The time-evolution of the density matrix
Remembering the Schrodinger equation ih|

(t) =

H|(t) and its transpose
complex conjugate version ih

(t)| = (t)|

H (

H

=

H) we nd
ih

(t) = ih

i
p
i

t
[|
i
(t)
i
(t)|] =

i
p
i
_
ih|

i
(t)
i
(t)| + ih|
i
(t)

i
(t)|
_
=

i
p
i
_

H|
i
(t)
i
(t)| |
i
(t)
i
(t)|

H
_
=

H

H =
_

H,
_
. (13)
If we know the time-evolution operator for some pulse

U(t) so that |(t) =

U(t)|(0) we get the eect on the density matrix as

(t) =

i
p
i
|
i
(t)
i
(t)| =

i
p
i

U(t)|
i
(0)
i
(0)|

(t) =

U(t) (0)

(t).
(14)
5 Interpretation of the density matrix elements
What is the probability to nd the qubit in the state |0 when it is describe
by a density matrix ? This probability is given by the expectation value of
the projection operator

P
0
= |00|. For a pure state | = c
0
|0 + c
1
|1 this
gives the usual |

P
0
| = (c

0
0| + c

1
1|) |00| (c
0
|0 + c
1
|1) = |c
0
|
2
. For an
arbitrary single qubit density matrix we nd
P
0
= Tr(

P
0
) = Tr
__
1 0
0 0
_

_

00

01

10

11
__
=
00
, (15)
and similarly P
1
=
11
. (

P
0/1
= (1
z
)/2) So the probability to nd the qubit
in a certain state is given by the diagonal elements.
The o-diagonal elements give the amount of coherence between the states.
Under the inuence of a noisy environment the coherence is easily killed, as we
will see in the next lecture. The environment tries to make the density matrix
diagonal in some basis. The qubit states then evolves from a pure state into
a mixed state. On the Bloch sphere this is seen as the disappearance of the
components r
x
and r
y
, if the environment makes the density matrix diagonal in
the z-direction.
4
6 Reading suggestions
NC pages 98-108 and chapter 8, Sakurai pages 174-184.
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