Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-ii-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/paper-1/1/a/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics II course of the University of Cambridge 2014 Paper 1 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
An initially occupied, isolated instantaneous energy eigenstate follows its changing eigenspace, acquiring a dynamical phase and generally a Berry phase. For smooth nondegenerate evolution, a useful local smallness condition isA nonvanishing spectral gap and suitably smooth, slow driving throughout the evolution are needed; the local inequality alone is not a universal long-time error bound. Gap closure invalidates the simple nondegenerate approximation. A separated degenerate eigenspace may mix internally even when transitions out of it are suppressed.
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