Two elementary proofs of the Wigner theorem on symmetry in quantum mechanics

DOI10.1016/J.PHYSLETA.2008.09.052zbMATH Open1227.81189arXiv0808.0779OpenAlexW2014979661WikidataQ57318612 ScholiaQ57318612MaRDI QIDQ646891FDOQ646891

Authors: Juan-Miguel Gracia 

Publication date: 30 November 2011

Published in: Physics Letters. A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In quantum theory, symmetry has to be defined necessarily in terms of the family of unit rays, the state space. The theorem of Wigner asserts that a symmetry so defined at the level of rays can always be lifted into a linear unitary or an antilinear antiunitary operator acting on the underlying Hilbert space. We present a proof of this theorem which is both elementary and economical. Central to our proof is the recognition that a given Wigner symmetry can, by post-multiplication by a unitary symmetry, be taken into either the identity or complex conjugation. Our analysis involves a judicious interplay between the effect a given Wigner symmetry has on certain two-dimensional subspaces and the effect it has on the entire Hilbert space.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0808.0779

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zbMATH Keywords

quantum informationsymmetry groupsunitaryWigner theoremantiunitary theorem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Symmetries and conservation laws, reverse symmetries, invariant manifolds and their bifurcations, reduction for problems in Hamiltonian and Lagrangian mechanics (70H33) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Finite-dimensional groups and algebras motivated by physics and their representations (81R05) Hilbert and pre-Hilbert spaces: geometry and topology (including spaces with semidefinite inner product) (46C05) Quantum state spaces, operational and probabilistic concepts (81P16)

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Cited In (14)

• A note on families of spin observables and a generalization of Wigner's theorem in \(\mathbb{C}^2\)
• On the realization of symmetries in quantum mechanics
• An elementary proof for the non-bijective version of Wigner's theorem
• Wigner's theorem on the Tsirelson space \(T\)
• (No) Wigner Theorem for C*-algebras
• WIGNER’S THEOREM IN -TYPE SPACES
• An alternative proof of Wigner theorem on quantum transformations based on elementary complex analysis
• Wigner's theorem for stabilizer states and quantum designs
• Comment on: ``Two elementary proofs of the Wigner theorem on symmetry in quantum mechanics
• Symmetry and history quantum theory: An analog of Wigner’s theorem
• A note on Tingley’s problem and Wigner’s theorem in the unit sphere of ^∞(Γ)-type spaces
• On normed spaces with the Wigner property
• Applications of Noether conservation theorem to Hamiltonian systems
• Are almost-symmetries almost linear?

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