Nonadiabatic Origin of Quantum-Metric Effects via Momentum-Space Metric Tensor
Abstract
We reveal a fundamental geometric structure of momentum space arising from the nonadiabatic evolution of Bloch electrons. By extending semiclassical wave packet theory to incorporate nonadiabatic effects, we introduce a momentum-space metric tensor -- the nonadiabatic metric. This metric gives rise to two velocity corrections, dubbed geometric and geodesic velocities, providing a unified and intuitive framework for understanding nonlinear and nonadiabatic transport phenomena beyond Berry phase effects. The geometric velocity is related to the nonadiabatic metric itself, whereas the geodesic velocity is a Christoffel symbol of the nonadiabatic metric. As the nonadiabatic metric is related to the energy-gap renormalized quantum metric, it unifies the broad quantum metric effects in electronic responses. When the nonadiabatic metric is constant, it reduces to an effective mass, modifying flat-band electron dynamics in confining potentials. In a flat Chern band with harmonic attractive interactions, the two-body wave functions mirror the Landau-level wave functions on a torus. Furthermore, we show that the nonadiabatic metric endows momentum space with a curved geometry, recasting wave packet dynamics as forced geodesic motion.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2506.06439,
title = {Nonadiabatic Origin of Quantum-Metric Effects via Momentum-Space Metric Tensor},
author = {Yafei Ren},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.06439},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
8 pages, 3 figures; accepted version