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Quasi-adiabatic theory has applications across disciplines, from quantum computing and cosmology to materials science and atomic physics. This textbook provides, for the first time, a comprehensive introduction to quasi-adiabatic effects.
In modern physics, the term "adiabatic" refers to the slow evolution limit. Nonadiabatic transitions are well understood also. Conversely, quasi-adiabatic theory pertains to a systematically developed theory revealing numerous time-dependent evolutions in physics that, while slow, are not genuinely adiabatic. It is rich in effects that can be understood even in models with complex many-body interactions. Examples from research in quantum computing, phase transitions, ultra-cold atoms, and quantum control are used throughout to illustrate these effects.
Quasi-Adiabatic Effects: Introduction to Geometric Phases and Landau-Zener Transitions is aimed at students at graduate level and beyond, who are interested in quantum and classical mechanics, as well as complex analysis. The book seeks to fill a gap in the literature by providing an accessible introduction to both geometric phases and nonadiabatic transitions at a level sufficient to consider numerous applications. Some of the processes found here are discussed for the first time in a textbook format, including the Dykhne formula (Chapter 8) and multistate Landau-Zener theory (Chapter 11). This unique material makes
Quasi-Adiabatic Effects a novel and important addition to the textbook literature of several topics encountered in modern research.
Throughout the book, students will find discussions and complex analysis of these processes as well as problems to solve (with solutions also provided). The problems help refresh several elementary techniques which will become progressively useful throughout the chapters.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Time-dependent Schrodinger equation
- 3: Geometric phase
- 4: Geometric phase effects in electric currents
- 5: Landau-Zener-Majorana-Stuckelberg formula
- 6: Beyond the Landau-Zener formula
- 7: Dykhne formula
- 8: Nonadiabatic transitions and decoherence
- 9: Nonadiabatic critical phenomena
- 10: Quasi-adiabatic dynamics in classical mechanics
- 11: Multistate Landau-Zener problem
- Appendix A: Euler's Gamma function
- Index
About the author
Nikolai Sinitsyn is a scientist staff member in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA. After obtaining his PhD in Theoretical Physics from Texas A&M University in 2004, his first postdoctoral appointment was at the University of Texas, Austin, where he focused on semiconductor spintronics and extraordinary Hall effects. Since 2006, Sinitsyn has taken various positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he developed broad research interests in spin noise spectroscopy, quantum information, ultra-cold atomic physics, and integrable models. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2020) and recipient of Los Alamos Fellow's Prize for Research (2018). He also holds the title of an Outstanding Referee for Physical Review journals (2020).
Valery L. Pokrovsky is a Soviet, Russian, and American physicist. He obtained his PhD at Tomsk University in 1957. In 1966, he joined Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Chernogolovka, before becoming Professor of Physics at Texas A&M University, USA, while remaining a Senior Scientist at the Landau Institute. He has received several awards, including the Landau Prize of the Soviet Academy of Science (1984 with Alexander Patashinski) and of the Russian Academy of Science (2018). He received the Humboldt Prize in 2000, and the Lars Onsager Prize of the American Physical Society in 2005.
