Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2603.01523 · Physical Review A

Theory of anomalous Landau-Zener tunneling induced by nonlinear coupling

Wen-Yuan Wang, Hong-Juan Meng

quant-phSubmitted Mar 2, 2026• Announced Mar 3, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We develop a general theory of Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling in a two-level system with amplitude-dependent, sign-reversible nonlinear coupling, distinguishing it fundamentally from conventional on-site nonlinearity. Through a combination of analytical and phase-space analysis, we show that beyond a critical interaction strength, the nonlinear coupling fundamentally reshapes the adiabatic energy landscape, introducing a topological twisted and knotted structure. This structure leads to a complete breakdown of the standard exponential LZ formula, even in the adiabatic limit. Central to this anomalous behavior is the emergence of a black-hole-like fixed point, which acts as a universal attractor: upon traversing the critical region, all quantum trajectories converge to this fixed point, irreversibly erasing any memory of the initial state. From this fixed-point picture, we derive an exact analytical expression for the adiabatic tunneling probability, revealing a characteristic power-law dependence on both linear and nonlinear coupling strength. Our work establishes a paradigmatic framework for nonlinear-coupling-induced anomalous adiabaticity breaking and offers a universal mechanism for state control in driven quantum and wave systems.

Journal reference
Phys. Rev. A 113, 062218 (2026)
DOI
10.1103/hxv8-ntdw

Related papers

Adiabaticity in nonreciprocal Landau-Zener tunneling

Wen-Yuan Wang, Bin Sun, Jie Liu

We investigate the Landau-Zener tunneling (LZT) of a self-interacting two-level system in which the coupling between the levels is nonreciprocal. In such a non-Hermitian system, when the energy bias between two levels is adjusted very slowly, i.e., in the adiabatic limit, we find that a quantum state can still closely follow the eigenstate solution until it encounters the exceptional points (EPs) at which two eigenvalues and their corresponding eigenvectors coalesce. In the absence of the nonlinear self-interaction, we can obtain explicit expressions for the eigenvectors and eigenvalues and analytically derive the adiabatic LZT probability from invariants at EPs. In the presence of the nonlinear interaction, the dynamics of the adiabatic evolutions are explicitly demonstrated with the help of classical trajectories in the plane of the two canonical variables of the corresponding classical Josephson Hamiltonian. We show that the adiabatic tunneling probabilities can be precisely predicted by the classical action at EPs in the weak nonreciprocal regime. In a certain region of strong nonreciprocity, we find that interestingly, the nonlinear interaction effects can be completely suppressed so that the adiabatic tunneling probabilities are identical to their linear counterparts. We also obtain a phase diagram for large ranges of nonreciprocity and nonlinear interaction parameters to explicitly demonstrate where the adiabaticity can break down, i.e., the emergence of the nonzero tunneling probabilities even in adiabatic limit.

arXiv:2201.02934•Physical Review A•Dec 14, 2022•29 citations

Nonlinear Landau-Zener Tunneling with Heat-Bath Colored Noise

Yi Cao, Jie Liu

In this work, we investigate the influence of colored noise originating from a heat bath on nonlinear Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling. The nonlinearity might arise intrinsically from many-body mean-field atomic self-interactions or Kerr nonlinearities in optical systems. Contrary to the well-established picture of thermally enhanced quantum tunneling within the linear LZ paradigm, ensemble statistics of our numerical simulations demonstrate that nonlinearity can give rise to thermally suppressed LZ tunneling: the tunneling probability of the nonlinear LZ system decreases as the amplitude of the colored noise increases beyond a critical value. Analytically, the Wiener-Hermite expansion facilitates elucidation of the intrinsic mechanism accounting for the nonmonotonic dependence of tunneling probability on noise amplitude. We compare these behaviors with stochastic resonance responses and clarify that the two phenomena stem from distinct physical mechanisms. In addition, we obtain approximate solutions in the weak- and strong-noise limits and discuss the implications of our theory.

quant-pharXiv:2608.15604•Aug 18, 2026•0 citations

Landau-Zener tunneling in a nonlinear three-level system

Guanfang Wang, Difa Ye, Libin Fu +2 more

We present a comprehensive analysis of the Landau-Zener tunneling of a nonlinear three-level system in a linearly sweeping external field. We find the presence of nonzero tunneling probability in the adiabatic limit (i.e., very slowly sweeping field) even for the situation that the nonlinear term is very small and the energy levels keep the same topological structure as that of the linear case. In particular, the tunneling is irregular with showing an unresolved sensitivity on the sweeping rate. For the case of fast-sweeping fields, we derive an analytic expression for the tunneling probability with stationary phase approximation and show that the nonlinearity can dramatically influence the tunneling probability when the nonlinear ``internal field'' resonate with the external field. We also discuss the asymmetry of the tunneling probability induced by the nonlinearity. Physics behind the above phenomena is revealed and possible application of our model to triple-well trapped Bose-Einstein condensate is discussed.

arXiv:cond-mat/0607359•Physical Review A•Sep 27, 2006•80 citations

Theory of nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling

Jie Liu, Libin Fu, Bi-Yiao Ou +4 more

We present a comprehensive analysis of the nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling. We find characteristic scaling or power laws for the critical behavior that occurs as the nonlinear parameter equals to the gap of avoided crossing energy levels. For the nonlinear parameter larger than the energy gap, a closed-form solution is derived for the nonlinear tunneling probability, which is shown to be a good approximation to the exact solution for a wide range of the parameters. Finally, we discuss the experimental realization of the nonlinear model and possible observation of the scaling or power laws using a Bose-Einstein condensate in an accelerating optical lattice.

arXiv:quant-ph/0105140•Physical Review A•Aug 5, 2002•282 citations

Coherent nonlinear low-frequency Landau–Zener tunneling induced by magnetic control of a spin qubit in a quantum wire

S. E. Mkam Tchouobiap, J. E. Danga, R.M. Keumo Tsiaze +1 more

This paper presents nonlinear Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling of an electron spin in an accelerating optical parabolic potential, manifested in a heterostructure quantum wire subjected to a periodic magnetic field comprising a spike and a homogeneous part. In this context, driving the two states of a pure nonlinear two-level quantum bit (qubit) system through an avoided level crossing can result in nontrivial dynamics, especially with and without considering a parabolic confinement potential characterized by a curvature confinement potential. We report two striking nonadiabatic and adiabatic scenarios in low modulation frequency limit which appear when such strength modulation occurs. Firstly, the changes of the amplitude of the driving field without considering a parabolic confinement potential act as a perturbation which mixes the spin states. Here, the dynamical evolution of the tunneling probabilities of the nonadiabatic populations under investigation is analyzed. Secondly, for strong fields and strong dependence of a parabolic confinement potential, the two diabatic states do not cross but present anti-crossing phenomenon as the time tends to infinity, describing an adiabatic transition. However, if the field strength in a wire is weak enough, the level separation of a qubit state switches abruptly around the crossing point, and LZ tunneling applies to the whole dynamical range, from adiabatic to fully nonadiabatic crossing. Locally, the tunneling process can be seen as a two-level system (TLS) undergoing a Rabi oscillation. These results open new prospects for the use of quantum interferences in spin–based devices.

International Journal of Quantum Information•Sep 1, 2018•4 citations

The effect of Landau-Zener tunnelings on the nonlinear dynamics of cold atoms in a modulated laser field

Victor Yu. Argonov

We study the motion of a cold atom in a frequency-modulated standing laser wave. If the detuning between the atomic electronic transition and the field is large, the atom moves in a modulated optical potential demonstrating known classical nonlinear effects such as chaos and nonlinear resonances. If the atom-field detuning is small, then two optical potentials emerge in the system, and the atom performs Landau-Zener (LZ) tunnelings between them. It is a radically non-classical behavior. However, we show that classical nonlinear structures in system's phase space (KAM-tori and chaotic layers) survive. Quantum effect of LZ tunnelings only induces small random jumps of trajectories between these structures (dynamical tunneling).

arXiv:1401.2156•Jan 9, 2014•0 citations
We develop a general theory of Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling in a two-level system with amplitude-dependent, sign-reversible nonlinear coupling, distinguishing it fundamentally from conventional on-site nonlinearity. Through a combination of analytical and phase-space analysis, we show that beyond a critical interaction strength, the nonlinear coupling fundamentally reshapes the adiabatic energy landscape, introducing a topological twisted and knotted structure. This structure leads to a complete breakdown of the standard exponential LZ formula, even in the adiabatic limit. Central to this anomalous behavior is the emergence of a black-hole-like fixed point, which acts as a universal attractor: upon traversing the critical region, all quantum trajectories converge to this fixed point, irreversibly erasing any memory of the initial state. From this fixed-point picture, we derive an exact analytical expression for the adiabatic tunneling probability, revealing a characteristic power-law dependence on both linear and nonlinear coupling strength. Our work establishes a paradigmatic framework for nonlinear-coupling-induced anomalous adiabaticity breaking and offers a universal mechanism for state control in driven quantum and wave systems.
We investigate the Landau-Zener tunneling (LZT) of a self-interacting two-level system in which the coupling between the levels is nonreciprocal. In such a non-Hermitian system, when the energy bias between two levels is adjusted very slowly, i.e., in the adiabatic limit, we find that a quantum state can still closely follow the eigenstate solution until it encounters the exceptional points (EPs) at which two eigenvalues and their corresponding eigenvectors coalesce. In the absence of the nonlinear self-interaction, we can obtain explicit expressions for the eigenvectors and eigenvalues and analytically derive the adiabatic LZT probability from invariants at EPs. In the presence of the nonlinear interaction, the dynamics of the adiabatic evolutions are explicitly demonstrated with the help of classical trajectories in the plane of the two canonical variables of the corresponding classical Josephson Hamiltonian. We show that the adiabatic tunneling probabilities can be precisely predicted by the classical action at EPs in the weak nonreciprocal regime. In a certain region of strong nonreciprocity, we find that interestingly, the nonlinear interaction effects can be completely suppressed so that the adiabatic tunneling probabilities are identical to their linear counterparts. We also obtain a phase diagram for large ranges of nonreciprocity and nonlinear interaction parameters to explicitly demonstrate where the adiabaticity can break down, i.e., the emergence of the nonzero tunneling probabilities even in adiabatic limit.
In this work, we investigate the influence of colored noise originating from a heat bath on nonlinear Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling. The nonlinearity might arise intrinsically from many-body mean-field atomic self-interactions or Kerr nonlinearities in optical systems. Contrary to the well-established picture of thermally enhanced quantum tunneling within the linear LZ paradigm, ensemble statistics of our numerical simulations demonstrate that nonlinearity can give rise to thermally suppressed LZ tunneling: the tunneling probability of the nonlinear LZ system decreases as the amplitude of the colored noise increases beyond a critical value. Analytically, the Wiener-Hermite expansion facilitates elucidation of the intrinsic mechanism accounting for the nonmonotonic dependence of tunneling probability on noise amplitude. We compare these behaviors with stochastic resonance responses and clarify that the two phenomena stem from distinct physical mechanisms. In addition, we obtain approximate solutions in the weak- and strong-noise limits and discuss the implications of our theory.
We present a comprehensive analysis of the Landau-Zener tunneling of a nonlinear three-level system in a linearly sweeping external field. We find the presence of nonzero tunneling probability in the adiabatic limit (i.e., very slowly sweeping field) even for the situation that the nonlinear term is very small and the energy levels keep the same topological structure as that of the linear case. In particular, the tunneling is irregular with showing an unresolved sensitivity on the sweeping rate. For the case of fast-sweeping fields, we derive an analytic expression for the tunneling probability with stationary phase approximation and show that the nonlinearity can dramatically influence the tunneling probability when the nonlinear ``internal field'' resonate with the external field. We also discuss the asymmetry of the tunneling probability induced by the nonlinearity. Physics behind the above phenomena is revealed and possible application of our model to triple-well trapped Bose-Einstein condensate is discussed.
We present a comprehensive analysis of the nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling. We find characteristic scaling or power laws for the critical behavior that occurs as the nonlinear parameter equals to the gap of avoided crossing energy levels. For the nonlinear parameter larger than the energy gap, a closed-form solution is derived for the nonlinear tunneling probability, which is shown to be a good approximation to the exact solution for a wide range of the parameters. Finally, we discuss the experimental realization of the nonlinear model and possible observation of the scaling or power laws using a Bose-Einstein condensate in an accelerating optical lattice.
This paper presents nonlinear Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling of an electron spin in an accelerating optical parabolic potential, manifested in a heterostructure quantum wire subjected to a periodic magnetic field comprising a spike and a homogeneous part. In this context, driving the two states of a pure nonlinear two-level quantum bit (qubit) system through an avoided level crossing can result in nontrivial dynamics, especially with and without considering a parabolic confinement potential characterized by a curvature confinement potential. We report two striking nonadiabatic and adiabatic scenarios in low modulation frequency limit which appear when such strength modulation occurs. Firstly, the changes of the amplitude of the driving field without considering a parabolic confinement potential act as a perturbation which mixes the spin states. Here, the dynamical evolution of the tunneling probabilities of the nonadiabatic populations under investigation is analyzed. Secondly, for strong fields and strong dependence of a parabolic confinement potential, the two diabatic states do not cross but present anti-crossing phenomenon as the time tends to infinity, describing an adiabatic transition. However, if the field strength in a wire is weak enough, the level separation of a qubit state switches abruptly around the crossing point, and LZ tunneling applies to the whole dynamical range, from adiabatic to fully nonadiabatic crossing. Locally, the tunneling process can be seen as a two-level system (TLS) undergoing a Rabi oscillation. These results open new prospects for the use of quantum interferences in spin–based devices.
We study the motion of a cold atom in a frequency-modulated standing laser wave. If the detuning between the atomic electronic transition and the field is large, the atom moves in a modulated optical potential demonstrating known classical nonlinear effects such as chaos and nonlinear resonances. If the atom-field detuning is small, then two optical potentials emerge in the system, and the atom performs Landau-Zener (LZ) tunnelings between them. It is a radically non-classical behavior. However, we show that classical nonlinear structures in system's phase space (KAM-tori and chaotic layers) survive. Quantum effect of LZ tunnelings only induces small random jumps of trajectories between these structures (dynamical tunneling).