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Equation 38 · Part 6 · The Entry a Relabeling Cannot Write

subscript

Hc:=WHfW†H_c := W H_f W^\dagger
subscript

What this part means

The lower label selects a particular version, component, or indexed member of the quantity. For example, x₀ and xₜ can be values at different positions.

Its job in the formula

A subscript distinguishes a version, component, step, or member of a quantity. It does not automatically mean multiplication.

The passage around this formula

Before asking what a genuine coarse-graining exposes, the construction has to survive the case where nothing at all is discarded. Take Hc\mathcal H_c = Hf\mathcal H_f — no reduction in the space of states — and let the “coarse” description be nothing more than the same physics seen through a fixed, time-independent relabeling: a rotated spin basis, a renamed pair of levels, a change of which linear combination of states a lab calls “up.” Model this as Λ(ρ)\Lambda(\rho) := Wρ\rho W†W^\dagger for a fixed unitary W , and, because nothing has been thrown away, define the coarse Hamiltonian self-consistently as the same physical generator carried through that same relabeling, HcH_c := W HfH_f W†W^\dagger .

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Learn the underlying idea

A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

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