Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ii/paper-4/32d/solution

The Pauli matrices obey . Expanding the exponential into even and odd powers gives the time-evolution operator
For orthogonal states the identity contribution vanishes, so the transition probability is . For spin up to spin down in a static field , only has the required matrix element. Hence
For the weak rotating transverse field, take . The unperturbed energies give . The perturbation matrix element is . Thus first-order perturbation theory gives
Squaring its magnitude yields
The hypothesis is , excluding resonance. At this is the leading weak- expansion of the exact static-field formula with . For extremely long times, a small higher-order frequency correction can accumulate phase, so first-order perturbation is not a uniform approximation on arbitrarily long time scales.

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