Nonexpansive and noncontractive mappings on the set of quantum pure states

Abstract

Wigner's theorem characterizes isometries of the set of all rank one projections on a Hilbert space. In metric geometry, nonexpansive maps and noncontractive maps are well-studied generalizations of isometries. We show that under certain conditions Wigner symmetries can be characterized as nonexpansive or noncontractive maps on the set of all projections of rank one. The assumptions required for such characterizations are injectivity or surjectivity and they differ in the finite and the infinite-dimensional case. Motivated by a recently obtained optimal version of Uhlhorn's generalization of Wigner's theorem, we also give a description of nonexpansive maps which satisfy a condition that is much weaker than surjectivity. Such maps do not need to be Wigner symmetries. The optimality of all presented results is shown by counterexamples.