Expectation value in quantum mechanics ↩

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created: 2021-12-11 07:11:52
modified: 2022-01-10 04:13:04

In quantum mechanics, Hermitian operators on the Hilbert space represent observables. The expectation value for such operator in the state if is a unit vector (see Normalization of the wave function) is:

If is not a unit vector, but not a zero vector either, then the expectation value takes this form:

Where it the unit vector associated with .

It is convenient to assume that our vectors are normalized, simply to avoid having to divide by in the expectation values.

Time dependence

See Time dependence of expectation value in quantum mechanics

More information

See Axioms of quantum mechanics#Axiom 3