# CNOT gate
CNOT gate has two qubit input: control and target.
$\text{CNOT}|00\rangle=|00\rangle$
$\text{CNOT}|01\rangle=|01\rangle$
$\text{CNOT}|10\rangle=|11\rangle$
$\text{CNOT}|11\rangle=|10\rangle$
note: another way to represent it: $\text{CNOT}|a,b\rangle=|a, a\oplus b\rangle$ for $a,b\in\{0,1\}$
## CNOT on general 2-qubits
assume $|a\rangle=\alpha|0\rangle+\beta|1\rangle$ , $|b\rangle=\gamma|0\rangle+\delta|1\rangle$ .
we have,
$
\begin{align}
|a,b\rangle &= (\alpha|0\rangle+\beta|1\rangle)\otimes(\gamma|0\rangle+\delta|1\rangle) \\
&=\alpha\gamma|00\rangle+\alpha\delta|01\rangle+\beta\gamma|10\rangle+\beta\delta|11\rangle \\
&= |0\rangle\otimes(\alpha\gamma|0\rangle + \alpha\delta|1\rangle) + |1\rangle\otimes(\beta\gamma|0\rangle+\beta\delta|1\rangle)
\end{align}
$
And so,
$
\begin{align}
\text{CNOT}|a,b\rangle&=\text{CNOT}(\alpha\gamma|00\rangle+\alpha\delta|01\rangle+\beta\gamma|10\rangle+\beta\delta|11\rangle) \\
&=\text{CNOT}\big(|0\rangle(\alpha\gamma|0\rangle+\alpha\delta|1\rangle)+|1\rangle(\beta\gamma|0\rangle+\beta\delta|1\rangle)\big)\\
&= \alpha\gamma|0\rangle+\alpha\delta|1\rangle + X(\beta\gamma|0\rangle+\beta\delta|1\rangle) \\
&=\alpha\gamma|0\rangle+\alpha\delta|1\rangle + \beta\gamma|1\rangle+\beta\delta|0\rangle \\
&=(\alpha\gamma+\beta\delta)|0\rangle +(\alpha\delta+\beta\gamma)|1\rangle
\end{align}
$
Related: [[Bell state]]
Tag: #tech
## Created 2026-01-14 15:25