The objective of this paper is to explain and elucidate the formalism of
quantum mechanics by applying it to a well-known problem in conventional Hermitian quantum mechanics, namely the problem of state discrimination. Suppose that a system is known to be in one of two quantum states, |
ψ
1
〉 or |
ψ
2
〉. If these states are not orthogonal, then the requirement of unitarity forbids the possibility of discriminating between these two states with one measurement; that is, determining with one measurement what state the system is in. In conventional quantum mechanics, there is a strategy in which successful state discrimination can be achieved with a single measurement but only with a success probability
p
that is less than unity. In this paper, the state-discrimination problem is examined in the context of
quantum mechanics and the approach is based on the fact that a non-Hermitian
-symmetric Hamiltonian determines the inner product that is appropriate for the Hilbert space of physical states. It is shown that it is always possible to choose this inner product so that the two states |
ψ
1
〉 and |
ψ
2
〉 are orthogonal. Using
quantum mechanics, one cannot achieve a better state discrimination than in ordinary quantum mechanics, but one can instead perform a
simulated
quantum state discrimination, in which with a single measurement a perfect state discrimination is realized with probability
p
.
Upper and lower bounds on optimal success probability of quantum state discrimination with and without inconclusive results
