Answer by Ben H for What is the distinction between a ket and a state in...
A ket is an element of the Hilbert space, $| \psi \rangle \in \mathcal{H}$, i.e., it is an element (a vector) of the complex inner-product space. I think this is well-accepted terminology (introduced...
View ArticleAnswer by GiorgioP-DoomsdayClockIsAt-90 for What is the distinction between a...
Besides the correct introduction to the bra-ket notation done by @AndrewSteane, a cleaner mathematical notation may help to understand the situation and how manipulations go.Kets are elements of the...
View ArticleAnswer by Andrew Steane for What is the distinction between a ket and a state...
A ket is an element of a Hilbert space.A ket may also be called a state vector.An operator acting on a ket produces a ket.Suppose we have a two-dimensional Hilbert space and a Hermitian operator...
View ArticleWhat is the distinction between a ket and a state in quantum mechanics?
Sorry if this has been asked before in some manner, but I'm just a bit confused about the distinction between a state $\alpha$ and its ket $|\alpha\rangle$. I was recently told that a state $\alpha$ is...
View ArticleAnswer by Tobias Fünke for What is the distinction between a ket and a state...
I think all other answers so far do not address the problem directly. The definition of the OP regarding kets is a quite common, though not the most used one, see e.g. references 1 and 2.So I don't...
View ArticleAnswer by J. Murray for What is the distinction between a ket and a state in...
This is really two questions in one, namely what is a ket and what is a state. Both questions are bound to cause some degree of controversy between physicists of different mathematical pedigrees. I...
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