Cyclic states, Berry phases and the Schrodinger operator

Abstract

The evolution of a quantum mechanical system under a nonadiabatic external perturbation at a time interval (0,T) is considered. It is shown that all the cyclic states of the system, mod Psi (T))=ei phi mod Psi (0)), are determined by the eigenvalues in (quasi-energies) and associated eigenvectors mod phi in (t)) of the Schrodinger operator Sq(t)=H(t)-i( delta / delta t) acting on some Hilbert space. The set of linearly independent cyclic (quasi-energy) states possess some properties similar to the properties of the stationary states of a closed system. The Berry phases of the states associated with eigenvectors of the discrete spectrum of Sq(t), which are single-valued functions of omega =2 pi /T, are supplied by the partial derivatives of the corresponding eigenvalues (quasi-energies) with respect to omega . The approach developed is illustrated by several applications to time-dependent systems: the system under an adiabatic perturbation, the forced harmonic oscillator, and the two-level system. Even in the case of a system with a time-independent Hamiltonian there exist nonstationary quasi-energy states that have nontrivial Berry phases ( beta /2 pi not an integer). The criterion of existence of such states is formulated in terms of the energies of the system, and the corresponding expression for the Berry phases is obtained. Some examples of nonstationary cyclic states of closed systems, including the coherent states of a force-free oscillator and the Wannier states of electrons in the parabolic band, are considered.