On the Multiplicity of Density Operator Representation

Abstract

The density operator is usually defined starting from a set of kets in the Hilbert space and a probability distribution. From this definition it is easy to obtain a factorization of a given density operator, here called density factor (DF). The multiplicity and the variety of DFs is investigated using the tools of Matrix Analysis, arriving in particular to establish the DF with minimal size. The approach based on Matrix Analysis does not seem to be available elsewhere.