Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 67 / 4 / b / Solution

Use the Fourier transform convention $\hat{w}(E)={\int }_{\mathbb{R}}w(t)e^{itE}dt$ and define the spectral filtering of Hamiltonian terms byThe normalization $\hat{w}(0)=1$ means $\int w=1$. Since $w$ is real and nonnegative, $\hat{w}(-E)=\overline{\hat{w}(E)}$. Thus the stated positive-frequency cutoff also implies $\hat{w}(E)=0$ for $E\le -\Delta$. The integral exists in operator norm, because its integrand has norm at most $w(t)\Vert h_Z\Vert$.

Let $H|{\varphi }_i⟩=E_i|{\varphi }_i⟩$, with $E_i-E_0\ge \Delta$ for $i>0$. In this eigenbasis,Every matrix element coupling the unique ground state to an excited state vanishes, in either direction. HenceMoreover, linearity and conservation of $H$ under its own Heisenberg picture evolution giveEach filtered term is Hermitian, but it need not remain supported on its original set $Z$. The tail assumption supplies stronger long-time control than the integrability used here; no additional tail estimate is needed for the requested identities.