English

A variation principle for ground spaces

Mathematical Physics 2020-01-07 v4 math.MP Operator Algebras Quantum Physics

Abstract

The ground spaces of a vector space of hermitian matrices, partially ordered by inclusion, form a lattice constructible from top to bottom in terms of intersections of maximal ground spaces. In this paper we characterize the lattice elements and the maximal lattice elements within the set of all subspaces using constraints on operator cones. Our results contribute to the geometry of quantum marginals, as their lattices of exposed faces are isomorphic to the lattices of ground spaces of local Hamiltonians.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1704.07675,
  title  = {A variation principle for ground spaces},
  author = {Stephan Weis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.07675},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

18 pages, 2 figures, version v3 has an improved exposition, v4 has a new non-commutative example and catches a glimpse of three qubits

R2 v1 2026-06-22T19:27:11.543Z