|
Projection-valued Measure
In mathematics, particularly in functional analysis, a projection-valued measure (PVM) is a function defined on certain subsets of a fixed set and whose values are self-adjoint projections on a fixed Hilbert space. Projection-valued measures are formally similar to real-valued measures, except that their values are self-adjoint projections rather than real numbers. As in the case of ordinary measures, it is possible to integrate complex-valued functions with respect to a PVM; the result of such an integration is a linear operator on the given Hilbert space. Projection-valued measures are used to express results in spectral theory, such as the important spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators. The Borel functional calculus for self-adjoint operators is constructed using integrals with respect to PVMs. In quantum mechanics, PVMs are the mathematical description of projective measurements. They are generalized by positive operator valued measures (POVMs) in the same sense that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function (mathematics)
In mathematics, a function from a set to a set assigns to each element of exactly one element of .; the words map, mapping, transformation, correspondence, and operator are often used synonymously. The set is called the domain of the function and the set is called the codomain of the function.Codomain ''Encyclopedia of Mathematics'Codomain. ''Encyclopedia of Mathematics''/ref> The earliest known approach to the notion of function can be traced back to works of Persian mathematicians Al-Biruni and Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi. Functions were originally the idealization of how a varying quantity depends on another quantity. For example, the position of a planet is a ''function'' of time. Historically, the concept was elaborated with the infinitesimal calculus at the end of the 17th century, and, until the 19th century, the functions that were considered were differentiable (that is, they had a high degree of regularity). The concept of a function was formalized at the end of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
If And Only If
In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is biconditional (a statement of material equivalence), and can be likened to the standard material conditional ("only if", equal to "if ... then") combined with its reverse ("if"); hence the name. The result is that the truth of either one of the connected statements requires the truth of the other (i.e. either both statements are true, or both are false), though it is controversial whether the connective thus defined is properly rendered by the English "if and only if"—with its pre-existing meaning. For example, ''P if and only if Q'' means that ''P'' is true whenever ''Q'' is true, and the only case in which ''P'' is true is if ''Q'' is also true, whereas in the case of ''P if Q'', there could be other scenarios where ''P'' is true and ''Q'' is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Direct Integral
In mathematics and functional analysis a direct integral is a generalization of the concept of direct sum. The theory is most developed for direct integrals of Hilbert spaces and direct integrals of von Neumann algebras. The concept was introduced in 1949 by John von Neumann in one of the papers in the series ''On Rings of Operators''. One of von Neumann's goals in this paper was to reduce the classification of (what are now called) von Neumann algebras on separable Hilbert spaces to the classification of so-called factors. Factors are analogous to full matrix algebras over a field, and von Neumann wanted to prove a continuous analogue of the Artin–Wedderburn theorem classifying semi-simple rings. Results on direct integrals can be viewed as generalizations of results about finite-dimensional C*-algebras of matrices; in this case the results are easy to prove directly. The infinite-dimensional case is complicated by measure-theoretic technicalities. Direct integral theory was als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spectral Theorem
In mathematics, particularly linear algebra and functional analysis, a spectral theorem is a result about when a linear operator or matrix (mathematics), matrix can be Diagonalizable matrix, diagonalized (that is, represented as a diagonal matrix in some basis). This is extremely useful because computations involving a diagonalizable matrix can often be reduced to much simpler computations involving the corresponding diagonal matrix. The concept of diagonalization is relatively straightforward for operators on finite-dimensional vector spaces but requires some modification for operators on infinite-dimensional spaces. In general, the spectral theorem identifies a class of linear operators that can be modeled by multiplication operators, which are as simple as one can hope to find. In more abstract language, the spectral theorem is a statement about commutative C*-algebras. See also spectral theory for a historical perspective. Examples of operators to which the spectral theorem appl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring Homomorphism
In ring theory, a branch of abstract algebra, a ring homomorphism is a structure-preserving function between two rings. More explicitly, if ''R'' and ''S'' are rings, then a ring homomorphism is a function such that ''f'' is: :addition preserving: ::f(a+b)=f(a)+f(b) for all ''a'' and ''b'' in ''R'', :multiplication preserving: ::f(ab)=f(a)f(b) for all ''a'' and ''b'' in ''R'', :and unit (multiplicative identity) preserving: ::f(1_R)=1_S. Additive inverses and the additive identity are part of the structure too, but it is not necessary to require explicitly that they too are respected, because these conditions are consequences of the three conditions above. If in addition ''f'' is a bijection, then its inverse ''f''−1 is also a ring homomorphism. In this case, ''f'' is called a ring isomorphism, and the rings ''R'' and ''S'' are called ''isomorphic''. From the standpoint of ring theory, isomorphic rings cannot be distinguished. If ''R'' and ''S'' are rngs, then the cor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Measurable Function
In mathematics and in particular measure theory, a measurable function is a function between the underlying sets of two measurable spaces that preserves the structure of the spaces: the preimage of any measurable set is measurable. This is in direct analogy to the definition that a continuous function between topological spaces preserves the topological structure: the preimage of any open set is open. In real analysis, measurable functions are used in the definition of the Lebesgue integral. In probability theory, a measurable function on a probability space is known as a random variable. Formal definition Let (X,\Sigma) and (Y,\Tau) be measurable spaces, meaning that X and Y are sets equipped with respective \sigma-algebras \Sigma and \Tau. A function f:X\to Y is said to be measurable if for every E\in \Tau the pre-image of E under f is in \Sigma; that is, for all E \in \Tau f^(E) := \ \in \Sigma. That is, \sigma (f)\subseteq\Sigma, where \sigma (f) is the σ-algebra gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring Homomorphism
In ring theory, a branch of abstract algebra, a ring homomorphism is a structure-preserving function between two rings. More explicitly, if ''R'' and ''S'' are rings, then a ring homomorphism is a function such that ''f'' is: :addition preserving: ::f(a+b)=f(a)+f(b) for all ''a'' and ''b'' in ''R'', :multiplication preserving: ::f(ab)=f(a)f(b) for all ''a'' and ''b'' in ''R'', :and unit (multiplicative identity) preserving: ::f(1_R)=1_S. Additive inverses and the additive identity are part of the structure too, but it is not necessary to require explicitly that they too are respected, because these conditions are consequences of the three conditions above. If in addition ''f'' is a bijection, then its inverse ''f''−1 is also a ring homomorphism. In this case, ''f'' is called a ring isomorphism, and the rings ''R'' and ''S'' are called ''isomorphic''. From the standpoint of ring theory, isomorphic rings cannot be distinguished. If ''R'' and ''S'' are rngs, then the cor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Step Function
In mathematics, a function on the real numbers is called a step function if it can be written as a finite linear combination of indicator functions of intervals. Informally speaking, a step function is a piecewise constant function having only finitely many pieces. Definition and first consequences A function f\colon \mathbb \rightarrow \mathbb is called a step function if it can be written as :f(x) = \sum\limits_^n \alpha_i \chi_(x), for all real numbers x where n\ge 0, \alpha_i are real numbers, A_i are intervals, and \chi_A is the indicator function of A: :\chi_A(x) = \begin 1 & \text x \in A \\ 0 & \text x \notin A \\ \end In this definition, the intervals A_i can be assumed to have the following two properties: # The intervals are pairwise disjoint: A_i \cap A_j = \emptyset for i \neq j # The union of the intervals is the entire real line: \bigcup_^n A_i = \mathbb R. Indeed, if that is not the case to start with, a different set of intervals can be picked for whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lp Space
In mathematics, the spaces are function spaces defined using a natural generalization of the Norm (mathematics)#p-norm, -norm for finite-dimensional vector spaces. They are sometimes called Lebesgue spaces, named after Henri Lebesgue , although according to the Nicolas Bourbaki, Bourbaki group they were first introduced by Frigyes Riesz . spaces form an important class of Banach spaces in functional analysis, and of topological vector spaces. Because of their key role in the mathematical analysis of measure and probability spaces, Lebesgue spaces are used also in the theoretical discussion of problems in physics, statistics, economics, finance, engineering, and other disciplines. Applications Statistics In statistics, measures of central tendency and statistical dispersion, such as the mean, median, and standard deviation, are defined in terms of metrics, and measures of central tendency can be characterized as Central tendency#Solutions to variational problems, solutions to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indicator Function
In mathematics, an indicator function or a characteristic function of a subset of a set is a function that maps elements of the subset to one, and all other elements to zero. That is, if is a subset of some set , one has \mathbf_(x)=1 if x\in A, and \mathbf_(x)=0 otherwise, where \mathbf_A is a common notation for the indicator function. Other common notations are I_A, and \chi_A. The indicator function of is the Iverson bracket of the property of belonging to ; that is, :\mathbf_(x)= \in A For example, the Dirichlet function is the indicator function of the rational numbers as a subset of the real numbers. Definition The indicator function of a subset of a set is a function \mathbf_A \colon X \to \ defined as \mathbf_A(x) := \begin 1 ~&\text~ x \in A~, \\ 0 ~&\text~ x \notin A~. \end The Iverson bracket provides the equivalent notation, \in A/math> or to be used instead of \mathbf_(x)\,. The function \mathbf_A is sometimes denoted , , , or even just . Nota ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthogonal
In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. By extension, orthogonality is also used to refer to the separation of specific features of a system. The term also has specialized meanings in other fields including art and chemistry. Etymology The word comes from the Ancient Greek ('), meaning "upright", and ('), meaning "angle". The Ancient Greek (') and Classical Latin ' originally denoted a rectangle. Later, they came to mean a right triangle. In the 12th century, the post-classical Latin word ''orthogonalis'' came to mean a right angle or something related to a right angle. Mathematics Physics * In optics, polarization states are said to be orthogonal when they propagate independently of each other, as in vertical and horizontal linear polarization or right- and left-handed circular polarization. * In special relativity, a time axis determined by a rapidity of motion is hyperbolic-orthogonal to a space axis of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
