Orthogonality of integer-frequency Fourier modes gives this identity: the integral is one for and zero otherwise. It converts integer step-count constraints into products of generating functions, as in the dilute-hopping lattice propagator.
For the new periodic potential, let be the single-neighbour hopping rate and . It is determined by the barrier between adjacent minima; an unspecified periodic potential does not determine it from the preceding quartic potential's numerical action. The minimum spacing is now .
A path with right hops and left hops has . Summing the ordered-center weights and their direction choices gives
Insert the Fourier representation of a Kronecker delta. The two exponential series sum independently, yielding the dilute-hopping lattice propagator
The two Fourier-sign choices are equivalent by . Equivalently the integral is the modified Bessel function .
The original PDF prints here. Its sign is inconsistent with both the previous double-well result and the requested positive on-site oscillator energy. The correct factor is : a positive oscillator ground-state energy must decay under . The other factors and their derivation remain as displayed. The energy is the positive nearest-neighbour quantum tunnelling matrix-element magnitude, exponentially small relative to the local well scale in the semiclassical regime.