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Physical Review A

Magnus approximation in the adiabatic picture

Serge Klarsfeld, José Ángel Oteo

Published Mar 1, 1992• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe a simple approximate nonperturbative method for treating time-dependent problems that works well in the intermediate regime far from both the sudden and the adiabatic limits. The method consists of applying the Magnus expansion after transforming to the adiabatic basis defined by the eigenstates of the instantaneous Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.45.3329

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We describe a simple approximate nonperturbative method for treating time-dependent problems that works well in the intermediate regime far from both the sudden and the adiabatic limits. The method consists of applying the Magnus expansion after transforming to the adiabatic basis defined by the eigenstates of the instantaneous Hamiltonian.
A new and intuitive perturbative approach to time-dependent quantum mechanics problems is presented, which is useful in situations where the evolution of the Hamiltonian is slow. The state of a system which starts in an instantaneous eigenstate of the initial Hamiltonian is written as a power series which has a straightforward diagrammatic representation. Each term of the series corresponds to a sequence of ``adiabatic'' evolutions, during which the system remains in an instantaneous eigenstate of the Hamiltonian, punctuated by transitions from one state to another. The first term of this series is the standard adiabatic evolution, the next is the well known first correction to it, and subsequent terms can be written down essentially by inspection. Although the final result is perhaps not terribly surprising, it seems to not be widely known, and the interpretation is new, as far as we know. Application of the method to the adiabatic approximation is given, and some discussion of the validity of this approximation is presented.
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We propose a unified approach for different exponential perturbation techniques used in the treatment of time-dependent quantum mechanical problems, namely the Magnus expansion, the Floquet–Magnus expansion for periodic systems, the quantum averaging technique, and the Lie–Deprit perturbative algorithms. Even the standard perturbation theory fits in this framework. The approach is based on carrying out an appropriate change of coordinates (or picture) in each case, and it can be formulated for any time-dependent linear system of ordinary differential equations. All of the procedures (except the standard perturbation theory) lead to approximate solutions preserving by construction unitarity when applied to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation.
We propose a unified approach for different exponential perturbation techniques used in the treatment of time-dependent quantum mechanical problems, namely the Magnus expansion, the Floquet--Magnus expansion for periodic systems, the quantum averaging technique and the Lie--Deprit perturbative algorithms. Even the standard perturbation theory fits in this framework. The approach is based on carrying out an appropriate change of coordinates (or picture) in each case, and can be formulated for any time-dependent linear system of ordinary differential equations. All the procedures (except the standard perturbation theory) lead to approximate solutions preserving by construction unitarity when applied to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation.