Spectral structure and controlled energy linearization of Feshbach effective Hamiltonians in a molecular quantum quench

Abstract

We establish spectral conditions under which a first-order energy linearization of a projected Feshbach Hamiltonian is controlled. When the support of the induced self-energy spectral measure lies entirely above or below the target energy window, the self-energy curvature and linearization remainder have fixed sign in the semidefinite (L\"owner) order. The remainder then decreases monotonically under model-space enlargement by complete complementary-space spectral subspaces, and the minimax linearization energy is determined by the endpoint norms. Far-separated asymptotics and the near-boundary divergence caused by an approaching pole are obtained explicitly. The theory is validated by a numerically exact sudden-quench calculation for the two-electron system $HT$ -> $^3HeH^+$: all 56 nontrivially coupled basis-geometry cases have support separated above the target window, while seven cc-pVTZ cases are exactly decoupled by construction and serve as numerical control cases. The same remainder controls the projected resolvent and, through source dressing, the full prepared-state response, with resolvent amplification governing the near-pole sensitivity. These results provide a practical criterion for controlled downfolding in molecular electronic structure and for final-state analyses in neutrino-mass experiments.