Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/ib/paper-3/20d/c/solution

Here and . Its time evolution for an additional interval is
At , . Acting on the state from the previous part gives
It differs from the initial state only by a global phase. For every observable or projection the phase cancels between bra and ket, so the final state is observationally indistinguishable from the original isolated state. A relative phase between two components or between coherently controlled alternatives would be observable; this overall phase of the entire state is not.

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