Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2025
12:11
Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
Published on: April 8, 2020
8.3K
Majorana's approach to nonadiabatic transitions validates the adiabatic-impulse approximation
P O Kofman1,2,3, O V Ivakhnenko4,5, S N Shevchenko6,7
1B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering, Kharkiv, 61103, Ukraine. polinaokofman@gmail.com.
Scientific Reports
|March 28, 2023
Summary
Ettore Majorana
Area of Science:
- Quantum Mechanics
- Atomic Physics
- Physical Chemistry
Background:
- The Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana (LZSM) formula describes non-adiabatic transitions between quantum levels.
- Ettore Majorana's contribution predates other key publications on this topic.
- Understanding these transitions is crucial for quantum control and information processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To revisit and extend Ettore Majorana's approach to non-adiabatic transitions.
- To introduce Majorana's method to a contemporary audience.
- To derive the full wave function, including its phase, for quantum systems undergoing avoided-level crossings.
Main Methods:
- Re-derivation of the Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana formula using Majorana's method.
- Extension of Majorana's approach to obtain the complete wave function.
- Analysis of the asymptotic wave function's accuracy in describing system dynamics.
Main Results:
- The study successfully re-derives and extends Majorana's work on non-adiabatic transitions.
- The full wave function, crucial for quantum control and information, is obtained.
- The asymptotic wave function accurately models dynamics away from avoided crossings.
Conclusions:
- Majorana's approach provides a foundational understanding of non-adiabatic transitions.
- The derived full wave function offers enhanced insights for quantum technologies.
- This work clarifies the historical attribution and extends the applicability of Majorana's method.
Related Concept Videos
01:18Adiabatic Processes for an Ideal Gas
3.2K
When an ideal gas is compressed adiabatically, that is, without adding heat, work is done on it, and its temperature increases. In an adiabatic expansion, the gas does work, and its temperature drops. Adiabatic compressions actually occur in the cylinders of a car, where the compressions of the gas-air mixture take place so quickly that there is no time for the mixture to exchange heat with its environment. Nevertheless, because work is done on the mixture during the compression, its...
3.2K
01:27Pressure and Volume in an Adiabatic Process
2.8K
Free expansion of a gas is an adiabatic process. However, there are few differences between free expansion and adiabatic expansion. During free expansion, no work is done, and there is no change in internal energy. But, for an adiabatic expansion, work is done, and there is a change in internal energy. During an adiabatic process, the relation between the pressure and volume is obtained from the condition for the adiabatic process, that is,
2.8K
01:20Work Done in an Adiabatic Process
3.3K
Consider the adiabatic compression of an ideal gas in the cylinder of an automobile diesel engine. The gasoline vapor is injected into the cylinder of an automobile engine when the piston is in its expanded position. The temperature, pressure, and volume of the resulting gas-air mixture are 20 °C, 1.00 x 105 N/m2, and 240 cm3 , respectively. The mixture is then compressed adiabatically to a volume of 40 cm3. Note that, in the actual operation of an automobile engine, the compression is not...
3.3K
00:49Impulse-Momentum Theorem
11.9K
The total change in the motion of an object is proportional to the total force vector acting on it and the time over which it acts. This product is called impulse, a vector quantity with the same direction as the total force acting on the object.
By writing Newton's second law of motion in terms of the momentum of an object and the external force acting on it, and simultaneously using the definition of the impulse vector, it can be shown that the total impulse on an object is equal to its...
By writing Newton's second law of motion in terms of the momentum of an object and the external force acting on it, and simultaneously using the definition of the impulse vector, it can be shown that the total impulse on an object is equal to its...
11.9K
02:39Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
17.8K
The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase...
17.8K
02:33Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
17.3K
Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
17.3K