 Weak resonant driving

A sinusoidal trap displacement with amplitude $\epsilon$ and duration $T$ produces a resonant first-order excitation amplitude proportional to $\epsilon \omega T/a_0$, where $a_0$ is the oscillator length. Keeping its square much smaller than one is the long-time condition for weak excitation. The small-displacement condition $\epsilon /a_0\ll 1$ alone does not ensure uniform validity as $T$ grows. Exact linear driving remains solvable as a coherent state after this first-order approximation fails.