 Solution

The history-subspace propagation Hamiltonian has diagonal entries $1/2$ at the endpoints and $1$ in the interior, and nearest-neighbour entries $-1/2$. The spectrum of a path propagation Hamiltonian isTo see the indexing directly, set $q_k=\pi k/(T+1)$ and $f_t=\cos [q_k(t+1/2)]$. The interior difference equation gives $Ef=(1-\cos q_k)f$. The endpoint equations correspond to $f_{-1}=f_0$ and $f_{T+1}=f_T$, both satisfied by these $q_k$. The $T+1$ distinct eigenvalues and their nonzero eigenvectors exhaust the matrix.

The zero eigenvalue is simple, soThe inequality uses $\sin x\ge 2x/\pi$ on $[0,\pi /2]$ and $1-\cos q=2{\sin }^2(q/2)$.

The supplied path-matrix hint sums through $i=N$ while listing a basis ending at $N$. That last summand would introduce an extra vertex. The matrix derived in (a) has exactly $T$ edges and $T+1$ vertices, as used here; this also proves the needed spectrum without relying on the misindexed summation.