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Title: Towards a generalized Landau-Zener formula for an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate in a two-level system

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.73.0· OSTI ID:20787548
; ;  [1]
  1. FB Physik, Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern, D-67653 Kaiserslautern (Germany)

We consider the Landau-Zener problem for a Bose-Einstein condensate in a linearly varying two-level system, for the full many-particle system as well as in the mean-field approximation. Novel nonlinear eigenstates emerge in the mean-field description, which leads to a breakdown of adiabaticity: The Landau-Zener transition probability does not vanish even in the adiabatic limit. It is shown that the emergence of nonlinear eigenstates and thus the breakdown of adiabaticity corresponds to quasi-degenerate avoided crossings of the many-particle levels. The many-particle problem can be solved approximately within an independent crossings approximation, which yields an explicit generalized Landau-Zener formula. A comparison to numerical results for the many-particle system and the mean-field approximation shows an excellent agreement.

OSTI ID:
20787548
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 73, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.063609; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English