Algorithmic cooling
A qubit (or quantum bit) is a unit of information that can be in a superposition of two states, denoted as formula_1 and formula_2. The general superposition can be written as formula_3where formula_4 and formula_5. If one measures the state of the qubit in the orthonormal basis composed of formula_1 and formula_2, one gets the result formula_1 with probability formula_9 and the result formula_2 with probability formula_11.
Qubit
In quantum mechanics, the general quantum state of a qubit can be represented by a linear superposition of its two orthonormal basis states (or basis vectors). These vectors are usually denoted as
formula_1
and 
formula_2. They are written in the conventional Dirac—or "bra–ket"—notation; the formula_3 and formula_4 are pronounced "ket 0" and "ket 1", respectively. These two orthonormal basis states, \