title: Experimental study of the validity of quantitative conditions in the quantum adiabatic theorem.
abstract: The quantum adiabatic theorem plays an important role in quantum mechanics. However, counter-examples were produced recently, indicating that their transition probabilities do not converge as predicted by the adiabatic theorem [K. P. Marzlin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 160408 (2004); D. M. Tong et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 110407 (2005)]. For a special class of Hamiltonians, we examine the standard criterion for adiabatic evolution experimentally and theoretically, as well as three newly suggested adiabatic conditions. We show that the standard criterion is neither sufficient nor necessary.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China. djf@ustc.edu.cn
authors.forename: Jiangfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Lingzhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jianda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Meisheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Suter