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Chinese Physics Letters

A New Approach to the Quantum Adiabatic Condition

Chu Guo, Qian-Heng Duan, Ping‐Xing Chen

Published Oct 1, 2012• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

The quantum adiabatic theorem is the basis of adiabatic quantum computation. However, the exact necessary and sufficient conditions for adiabatic evolution are still under debate. We discuss the adiabatic condition of a system undergoing a special evolution route, and obtain an explicit formula that is necessary and sufficient for the adiabatic evolution in this route. Based on this formula, we find that the traditional adiabatic condition is neither sufficient nor necessary. Finally, we show that no adiabatic process can occur even the evolution speed goes to 0 in some examples, which is surprising since the adiabatic theorem states that if the evolution of a system is slow enough, the adiabatic process could occur.

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/29/10/100301

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The quantum adiabatic theorem is the basis of adiabatic quantum computation. However, the exact necessary and sufficient conditions for adiabatic evolution are still under debate. We discuss the adiabatic condition of a system undergoing a special evolution route, and obtain an explicit formula that is necessary and sufficient for the adiabatic evolution in this route. Based on this formula, we find that the traditional adiabatic condition is neither sufficient nor necessary. Finally, we show that no adiabatic process can occur even the evolution speed goes to 0 in some examples, which is surprising since the adiabatic theorem states that if the evolution of a system is slow enough, the adiabatic process could occur.
Adiabaticity occurs when, during its evolution, a physical system remains in the instantaneous eigenstate of the Hamiltonian. Unfortunately, existing results, such as the quantum adiabatic theorem based on a slow down evolution $[H(ϵt),ϵ\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0]$, are insufficient to describe an evolution driven by the Hamiltonian H(t)H(t)H(t) itself. Here we derive general criteria and exact bounds, for the state and its phase, ensuring an adiabatic evolution for any Hamiltonian H(t)H(t)H(t). As a corollary, we demonstrate that the commonly used condition of a slow Hamiltonian variation rate, compared to the spectral gap, is indeed sufficient to ensure adiabaticity but only when the Hamiltonian is real and nonoscillating (for instance, containing exponential or polynomial but no sinusoidal functions).
Adiabaticity occurs when, during its evolution, a physical system remains in the instantaneous eigenstate of the hamiltonian. Unfortunately, existing results, such as the quantum adiabatic theorem based on a slow down evolution (H(epsilon t), epsilon ? 0), are insufficient to describe an evolution driven by the hamiltonian H(t) itself. Here we derive general criteria and exact bounds, for the state and its phase, ensuring an adiabatic evolution for any hamiltonian H(t). As a corollary we demonstrate that the commonly used condition of a slow hamiltonian variation rate, compared to the spectral gap, is indeed sufficient to ensure adiabaticity but only when the hamiltonian is real and non oscillating (for instance containing exponential or polynomial but no sinusoidal functions).
The quantum adiabatic theorem plays an important role in quantum mechanics. However, counter-examples were produced recently, indicating that their transition probabilities do not converge as predicted by the adiabatic theorem [K. P. Marzlin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 160408 (2004); D. M. Tong et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 110407 (2005)]. For a special class of Hamiltonians, we examine the standard criterion for adiabatic evolution experimentally and theoretically, as well as three newly suggested adiabatic conditions. We show that the standard criterion is neither sufficient nor necessary.
Abstract The adiabatic theorem was proposed about 90 years ago and has played an important role in quantum physics. The quantitative adiabatic condition constructed from eigenstates and eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian is a traditional tool to estimate adiabaticity and has proven to be the necessary and sufficient condition for adiabaticity. However, recently the condition has become a controversial subject. In this paper, we list some expressions to estimate the validity of the adiabatic approximation. We show that the quantitative adiabatic condition is invalid for the adiabatic approximation via the Euclidean distance between the adiabatic state and the evolution state. Furthermore, we deduce general necessary and sufficient conditions for the validity of the adiabatic approximation by different definitions.