English

Majorana's approach to nonadiabatic transitions validates the adiabatic-impulse approximation

Quantum Physics 2024-08-20 v3 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

The approach by Ettore Majorana for non-adiabatic transitions between two quasi-crossing levels is revisited. We rederive the transition probability, known as the Landau-Zener-St\"{u}ckelberg-Majorana formula, and introduce Majorana's approach to modern readers. This result typically referred as the Landau-Zener formula, was published by Majorana before Landau, Zener, St\"{u}ckelberg. Moreover, we obtain the full wave function, including its phase, which is important nowadays for quantum control and quantum information. The asymptotic wave function correctly describes dynamics far from the avoided-level crossing, while it has limited accuracy in that region.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2208.00481,
  title  = {Majorana's approach to nonadiabatic transitions validates the adiabatic-impulse approximation},
  author = {Polina O. Kofman and Oleh V. Ivakhnenko and Sergey N. Shevchenko and Franco Nori},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.00481},
  year   = {2024}
}