# What is a local operator in quantum mechanics?

In quantum mechanics, what exactly is meant by "local" operator?

What about a "global" or a "non-local" operator? Are these the same?

Can you also also help me understand what exactly is a local perturbation and a local symmetry?

A local operator is one whose action only depends on the value of the wave function (and its derivatives) at a single point. Almost all the ordinary operators one encounters are local in this sense, including $$\hat{x}$$, $$\hat{p}$$, $$\hat{L}_{z}$$, etc. The opposite of "local" in this context is not "global," but rather "nonlocal."

A nonlocal operator would act in something like the following way: $$\hat{W}\psi\left(\vec{x}\right)=\int d^{3}x'\, W\left(\vec{x},\vec{x}'\right)\psi\left(\vec{x}'\right).$$ The nonlocality comes from the fact that the value of $$\hat{W}\psi$$ at a point $$\vec{x}$$ depends on the value of $$\psi$$ at other points. The condition for $$\hat{W}$$ to be Hermitian is $$W\left(\vec{x},\vec{x}'\right)=W\left(\vec{x}',\vec{x}\right)^{*}$$.

The use of the terms "local perturbation" and "local symmetry" are less clearcut. A local perturbation might be one of two things. It might be a perturbation (added to the Hamiltonian) that is represented by a local operator. Or it might mean a position-dependent perturbation that goes to zero at spatial infinity. (Without further context, it is not possible to know which is meant. I requested a monograph from the library once, since it was supposed to be about "nonlocal solitons," thinking that it would cover solitary waves with nonlocal interactions like $$\hat{W}$$ above. In fact, it turned out to be a book about non-localized solitonic phenomena.)

Having a local symmetry means that the symmetry transformation will be allowed to depend on position, but there may be other conditions applied. Some people restrict the term "local symmetry" to mean a gauge symmetry of the second kind; other people use it to mean something different.

• Okay, so a non-local operator may not mean it is a global operator, right? – João Bravo Jun 5 at 20:39
• @JoãoBravo Yes, the opposite of "local" in this context is "nonlocal," not "global." – Buzz Jun 5 at 20:41
• Thank you! In regards to the last part of my post, can I say that a local symmetry is an invariance of the system to the application of a local operator? If that is the case, are global symmetries a subset of local symmetries? – João Bravo Jun 5 at 20:42
• But isn't "a position-dependent perturbation that goes to zero at spatial infinity" also described by a local operator that you add to the hamiltonian? – João Bravo Jun 6 at 15:40
• Just to abuse terminology, the opposite of a local operator is not a global operator in the same sense that a the opposite of a local government (such as a city government) is any larger government (such as a state government or even a few nations signing treaties)... a "global government" is a much larger concept indeed. – Cort Ammon Jun 9 at 16:50

If you are dealing with a multipartite state $$\lvert\Psi\rangle$$, then the distinction between local and non-local operations is an important one for example for the study of entanglement.

Consider for simplicity a bipartite state $$\lvert\Psi\rangle$$, that is, a state that can be written as $$\lvert\Psi\rangle=\sum_{ij}c_{ij}\lvert i\rangle\otimes\lvert j\rangle$$. A local operation $$A$$ is one that only acts on one part of the system. For example, an operation of the form $$A\lvert\Psi\rangle=\sum_{ij} c_{ij}(A'\lvert i\rangle)\otimes\lvert j\rangle$$ is local in that it only affects the first part of the system. In the simple case of a product state $$\lvert\psi\rangle\otimes\lvert\phi\rangle$$ you would have an evolution such as $$\lvert\psi\rangle\otimes\lvert\phi\rangle\to (A'\lvert\psi\rangle)\otimes(B'\lvert\phi\rangle).$$ One notable property of local operations is that they cannot affect the entanglement of the state (in a way that can be made precise).

Global operations are operations that are not local.

For a two-qubit system, an example of a global operation can be a CNOT, while a local operation is any single-qubit gate.

• Thank you for the quantum information perspective! – João Bravo Jun 10 at 13:22