title: Gauging a quantum heat bath with dissipative Landau-Zener transitions.
abstract: We calculate the exact Landau-Zener transition probabilities for a qubit with an arbitrary linear coupling to a bath at zero temperature. The final quantum state exhibits a peculiar entanglement between the qubit and the bath. In the special case of diagonal coupling, the bath does not influence the transition probability, whatever the speed of the Landau-Zener sweep. It is proposed to use Landau-Zener transitions to determine both the reorganization energy and the integrated spectral density of the bath. Possible applications include circuit QED and molecular nanomagnets.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physik, Universität Augsburg, D-86135 Augsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Martijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wubs
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Sigmund
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hänggi
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kayanuma