A Nonlinear Quantum Adiabatic Approximation

Clotilde Fermanian Kammerer (1) , Alain Joye (2)

1 LAMA - Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Mathématiques Appliquées
2 IF - Institut Fourier

This paper is devoted to a generalisation of the quantum adiabatic theorem to a nonlinear setting. We consider a Hamiltonian operator which depends on the time variable and on a finite number of parameters, defined on a separable Hilbert space with a fixed basis. The right hand side of the nonlinear evolution equation we study is given by the action of the Hamiltonian on the unknown vector, with its parameters replaced by the moduli of the first coordinates of the vector. We prove existence of solutions to this equation and consider their asymptotics in the adiabatic regime, i..e. when the Hamiltonian is slowly varying in time. Under natural spectral hypotheses, we prove the existence of instantaneous nonlinear eigenvectors for the Hamiltonian, and show the existence of solutions which remain close to these time-dependent nonlinear eigenvectors, up to a rapidly oscillating phase, in the adiabatic regime. We first investigate the case of bounded operators and then exhibit a set of spectral assumptions under which the result extends to unbounded Hamiltonians.

Mots clés: nonlinear adiabatic theorem.; Adiabatic approximation

Domaines: Physique mathématique [math-ph]; Analyse fonctionnelle [math.FA]; Equations aux dérivées partielles [math.AP]

Clotilde Fermanian Kammerer, Alain Joye. A Nonlinear Quantum Adiabatic Approximation. Nonlinearity, 2020, 33, pp.4715-4751. ⟨hal-02163163v1⟩