Second-quantized Landau-Zener theory for dynamical instabilities

Abstract

State engineering in nonlinear quantum dynamics sometimes may demand driving the system through a sequence of dynamically unstable intermediate states. This very general scenario is especially relevant to the dilute Bose-Einstein condensates, for which ambitious control schemes have been based on the powerful Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field theory. Since this theory breaks down on logarithmically short time scales in the presence of dynamical instabilities, an interval of instabilities introduces quantum corrections, which may possibly derail a control scheme. To provide a widely applicable theory for such quantum corrections, this paper solves a general problem of time-dependent quantum-mechanical dynamical instability, by modeling it as a second-quantized analog of a Landau-Zener avoided crossing: a ``twisted crossing.''