Test of the adiabatic approximation in quantum mechanics: Forced harmonic oscillator

Abstract

The accuracy of the adiabatic approximation in quantum mechanics is examined by applying it to the forced harmonic oscillator for which the time-dependent Schrödinger equation can be solved exactly. Nonadiabatic transitions caused by the external force that varies in time is focused on. A peculiar situation is illustrated such that, no matter how rapid and large the variation of the external force may be, all nonadiabatic transitions vanish exactly as t→∞.