Sudden and Adiabatic approximations in

Quantum Mechanics

Dr Prativa Pritimita
(Course TA, QM-I, NPTEL)

Department of Physics,
IIT Bombay.

February 22, 2022

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 1 / 16

Introduction

In nature, there are many phenomena which are governed by

time-dependent Hamiltonians. For ex., system of interacting
particles, interaction of atoms with EM radiation and so on.
In general, solving the Schrodinger eq. for time-dependent
Hamiltonians is difficult. Often one considers approximate
solutions while dealing with such systems.
We will consider two situations where the Hamiltonian, H(t) has
extreme time-dependence.
H(t) changing rapidly in a very short period of time −→ Sudden
approximation
H(t) changing very slowly −→ Adiabatic approximation

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 2 / 16

Condition for Sudden Approximation
[content taken from a presentation by UG students at IITB, Sagnik, Mehul and Anurag]

When H(t) changes rapidly in a very short interval of time, the

state of the system |ψi remains unchanged.
Consider a Hamiltonian H(t) which changes continuously in a time
interval ∆T . Let’s integrate the Schrodinger equation from t = 0 to
t = ∆T .
d
|ψ(t)i = H(t)|ψ(t)i
i~
dt
−i ∆T
Z
⇒ |ψ(∆T )i − |ψ(0)i = H(t)|ψ(t)idt
~ 0

Expand |ψ(t)i in the integral term, by its Taylor series. Consider ∆T

small enough to restrict the terms to first order in ∆T . Since the
integral itself is first order in ∆T , it suffices to keep only the zeroth term
in the Taylor series for |ψ(t)i.
P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 3 / 16
Condition for Sudden Approximation
Therefore,
∆T
−i
Z
|ψ(∆T )i − |ψ(0)i ≈ H(t)|ψ(0)idt
~ 0

Define the Average Hamiltonian operator as,

R ∆T
H(t)dt
H̄(∆T ) = 0
∆T
The above equation can be rewritten as,
∆T
|ψ(∆T )i ≈ |ψ(0)i − i H̄|ψ(0)i
~
Taking inner product on both sides with |ψ(0)i,
∆T ∆T
hψ(0)|ψ(∆T )i ≈ hψ(0)|ψ(0)i − i hψ(0)|H̄|ψ(0)i = 1 − i hH̄i
~ ~
P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 4 / 16
Condition for Sudden Approximation

It is clear that, for |ψ(∆T )i to be approximately equal to |ψ(0)i, we

must have
∆T
hH̄i  1
~
A more formal analysis with higher order terms in ∆T shows that the
Sudden Approximation holds true for

∆T
q
∆H̄  1; ∆H̄ = hH̄ 2 i − hH̄i2
~

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 5 / 16

Example
Q. A particle of mass m is in its ground state in an infinite square well,
in the region 0 < x < a. The right wall of the well suddenly expands at
t = 0 to allow the particle to occupy the region 0 < x < 2a. Find the
probability of finding the particle in the nth excited state of the new well,
right after the expansion.
Solution:
The ground state of the initial well is
r
2 πx
ψ0 (x) = sin( ) ; 0<x <a
a a
The eigenstates of the new well are,
r
1 nπx
φn (x) = sin( ); 0 < x < 2a
a 2a

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 6 / 16

Example
By the Sudden approximation, the state of the system right after t > 0
still remains ψ0 (x).

Thus we can expand ψ0 (x) as a linear superposition of the eigenstates

of new well;
X∞
ψ0 (x) = cn φn (x)
n=1

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 7 / 16

Example

The probability P0→n of finding the particle in the nth eigenstate is

given as;

P0→n = |hφn |ψ0 i|2

r r Z
 2 1 a πx nπx 2
= sin( ) sin( )dx
a a 0 a 2a
32

 π2 (n−4)2 ;
 n = odd
= 1
; n=2
 2

0; n > 2 and even.

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 8 / 16

Adiabatic approximation

Statement of Adiabatic Theorem:- A physical system remains in its

instantaneous eigenstate if a given perturbation is acting on it slowly
enough and there is a gap between the eigenvalue and the rest of the
Hamiltonian’s spectrum.
Two imp. points to focus on in this statement are;
dH
The perturbation should act slowly i.e. dt −→ 0.
There should always be a gap between the eigenvalue and the
rest of the Hamiltonian’s spectrum, i.e. the energy levels should
always be non-degenerate and shouldn’t cross over.

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 9 / 16

Proof of Adiabatic Theorem
Consider a system with a time-dependent hamiltonian H(t). Let the
particle in consideration be in the nth eigenstate. Define ‘instantaneous
eigenstates’ ψn (t) by,
H(t)ψn (t) = En (t)ψn (t) (1)
We also know that at all instants the eigenfunctions will remain
orthonormal,
hψn (t)|ψm (t)i = δnm (2)
and complete. Therefore the general solution of the time-dependent
Schrodinger’s equation,
∂
i~ Ψ(t) = H(t)Ψ(t) (3)
∂t
can be written as,
X
Ψ(t) = cn (t)ψn (t)eiθn (t) (4)

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 10 / 16

Proof of Adiabatic Theorem
where, Z t
1
θn (t) = − En (t 0 )dt 0 (5)
~ 0
Substituting (4) in (3), we get,
X X
i~ [c˙n ψn + cn ψ˙n + icn ψn θ˙n ]eiθn = cn (Hψn )eiθn (6)
n n
X X
⇒ c˙n ψn eiθn = − cn ψ˙n eiθn (7)
n n
X X
⇒ c˙n δmn eiθn = − cn hψm |ψ˙n ieiθn (8)
n n
X
⇒ c˙m (t) = − cn hψm |ψ˙n iei(θn −θm ) (9)
n

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 11 / 16

Proof of Adiabatic Theorem
If we now differentiate (1) w.r.t. time, we get,

Ḣψn + H ψ˙n = E˙n ψn + En ψ˙n (10)

⇒ hψm |Ḣ|ψn i + hψm |H|ψ˙n i = E˙n δmn + En hψm |ψ˙n i (11)
⇒ hψm |Ḣ|ψn i = (En − Em )hψm |ψ˙n i (12)

Putting (12) in (9), we get,

X hψm |Ḣ|ψn i Rt 0 0 0
c˙m (t) = −cm hψm |ψ˙m i − e(−i/~) 0 [En (t )−Em (t )]dt (13)
(En − Em )
n6=m

We now make use of the adiabatic approximation: Assume that Ḣ is

extremely small and therefore we can drop the second term in (14) and
get,
c˙m (t) w −cm hψm |ψ˙m i (14)

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 12 / 16

Proof of Adiabatic Theorem
This has the solution,

cm (t) = cm (0)eiγm (t) (15)

where,
Z t
∂
γm (t) = i hψm (t 0 )| ψm (t 0 )idt 0 (16)
0 ∂t 0
Thus, it shows that if the particle had started out in the nth eigenstate,
then the wavefunction evolves in the following manner:

Ψn (t) ∼
= eiθn (t) eiγn (t) ψn (t) (17)

i.e. the wavefunction remains in the nth eigenstate. It only gains a

phase factor.

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 13 / 16

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 14 / 16
Further reading: American Journal of Physics, 67,
776-782 (1999)
“The contracting Square Quantum Well” by D.N. Pinder
Adiabatic approximation is valid for both expansion and
contraction.
Sudden approximation is appropriate for expansion but not for
contraction.
a
Suppose, a −→ 2 suddenly, then,
The pre-contraction wave-function can be finite over the range
0 < x < a, but the post-contraction wave-function can be finite
only over the range 0 < x < a/2.
Hence, the principle of continuity of wave-function can not be
justified.
The energy exp. value hEi becomes ∞ due to the wavefunction
discontinuity at x being a/2.

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 15 / 16

P. Pritimita (IITB) Sudden and adiabatic approx. February 22, 2022 16 / 16