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Equation 97 · Part 5 · The Entry a Relabeling Cannot Write

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ΔEΛ(t∗)=+ℏω/2\Delta E_\Lambda(t^\ast) = +\hbar\omega/2
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What this part means

Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.

Its job in the formula

Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.

The passage around this formula

At t=0 this equals -ℏ\hbarω\omega/2 , exactly the bath’s own ground-state energy, matching the uncorrelated-bath limit derived above. At the swap time t∗t^\ast = π\pi/(2g) , the state is |g,e⟩\rangle up to an overall phase — the excitation has moved entirely into the bath — and Δ\Delta EΛ(t∗)E_\Lambda(t^\ast) = +ℏ\hbarω\omega/2 , exactly the bath’s excited-state energy with ⟨\langle HSBH_{SB}⟩\rangle = 0 at that instant, matching the closed form by direct substitution rather than by coincidence. A system-only observer watching only ⟨\langle HSH_S⟩(t)\rangle(t) across this half-period would see the tracked energy swing by a full ℏ\hbarω\omega with no term in HSH_S alone to explain it; the ledger accounts for every joule of…

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Learn the underlying idea

Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.

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Sources cited in the article section

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