A mathematical formalism for describing geometric phases is presented. A development of the geometric phase is given, which is valid for noncyclic nonadiabatic processes. The result is used to calculate exactly the geometric phase for a quantum system that is made up of a spin one-half system in a rotating magnetic field.
The geometric phase for states of two spin-1/2 particles in rotating magnetic field is calculated, in particular, the noncyclic and cyclic non-adiabatic phases for the general case are explicitly derived and discussed. We find that the cyclic geometric phase for the entangled state can always be written as a sum of the phases of the two particles respectively; the same cannot be said for the noncyclic phase. We also investigate the geometric phase of mixed state of one particle in a biparticle system, and we find that the geometric phase for one subsystem of an entangled system is always affected by another subsystem of the entangled system.
It is well known that any cyclic solution of a spin 1/2 neutral particle moving in an arbitrary magnetic field has a nonadiabatic geometric phase proportional to the solid angle subtended by the trace of the spin. For neutral particles with higher spin, this is true for cyclic solutions with special initial conditions. For more general cyclic solutions, however, this does not hold. As an example, we consider the most general solutions of such particles moving in a rotating magnetic field. If the parameters of the system are appropriately chosen, all solutions are cyclic. The nonadiabatic geometric phase and the solid angle are both calculated explicitly. It turns out that the nonadiabatic geometric phase contains an extra term in addition to the one proportional to the solid angle. The extra term vanishes automatically for spin 1/2. For higher spin, however, it depends on the initial condition. We also consider the valence electron of an alkaline atom. For cyclic solutions with special initial conditions in an arbitrary strong magnetic field, we prove that the nonadiabatic geometric phase is a linear combination of the two solid angles subtended by the traces of the orbit and spin angular momenta. For more general cyclic solutions in a strong rotating magnetic field, the nonadiabatic geometric phase also contains extra terms in addition to the linear combination.
With the help of the time-dependent gauge transformation technique, we have studied the geometric phase of a spin-half particle in a rotating magnetic field. We have found that the slow but finite frequency of the rotating magnetic field will make the difference between the adiabatic geometric phase and the exact geometric phase. When the frequency is much smaller than the energy space and the adiabatic condition is perfectly guaranteed, the adiabatic approximation geometric phase is exactly consistent with the adiabatic geometric phase. A simple relation for the accuracy of the adiabatic approximation is given in terms of the changing rate of the frequency of the rotating magnetic field and the energy level space.