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Dirac notation for quantum states

Dirac notation for quantum states

How to read the bra–ket notation?

Published on by Anton Vasetenkov

Quantum states are usually described using bra–ket notation, also known as Dirac notation.

In Dirac notation, a ket represents a state of a quantum system and is a vector in a complex vector space . A bra denotes a linear map , and the application of to is written as .

The ket can be represented as a column vector:

and the bra as a row vector:

In this representation, a bra next to a ket simply denotes matrix multiplication of a row vector with a column vector:

See also

On the nature of the wave function
The wave function is an abstract mathematical concept and cannot be "measured" directly. So what is it then?
The Hadamard gate
The definition of the Hadamard gate and some of its properties.

Made by Anton Vasetenkov.

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