Infinite Index
Scientific claim

Complex Hilbert Space Definition

Claim

A complex Hilbert space is a complex vector space H\mathcal{H} equipped with an inner product ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot,\cdot\rangle that is complete under the norm induced by that inner product.

Theoretical: Not applicable

Assumptions

No assumptions recorded.

Proof

This is a definition, so it is not proved from more fundamental propositions within this node.

Let H\mathcal{H} be a vector space whose scalars belong to the complex numbers C\mathbb{C}.

An inner product is a function ⟨⋅,⋅⟩\langle \cdot,\cdot\rangle that assigns a complex number ⟨ϕ,ψ⟩\langle\phi,\psi\rangle to each ordered pair of vectors ϕ,ψ∈H\phi,\psi\in\mathcal{H}.

The inner product induces a norm on each vector ψ∈H\psi\in\mathcal{H}:

∥ψ∥=⟨ψ,ψ⟩.\|\psi\| = \sqrt{\langle\psi,\psi\rangle}.

A sequence of vectors (ψn)(\psi_n) is a Cauchy sequence when the distance ∥ψn−ψm∥\|\psi_n-\psi_m\| can be made arbitrarily small by choosing sufficiently large nn and mm.

The space H\mathcal{H} is complete when every Cauchy sequence of vectors in H\mathcal{H} converges to a vector that is also contained in H\mathcal{H}.

A complex vector space equipped with an inner product and satisfying this completeness condition is, by definition, a complex Hilbert space.

Examples

No examples recorded.

Evidence

01
What is a Hilbert Space?Abide by Reason · 2025-08-22 · supporting

Related Concepts

No dependency connections recorded.