Nonadiabatic transitions in exactly solvable quantum mechanical multichannel model: role of level curvature and counterintuitive behavior

Abstract

We derive an exact solution of an explicitly time-dependent multichannel model of quantum mechanical nonadiabatic transitions. In the limit N >>1, where N is the number of states, we find that the survival probability of the initially populated state remains finite despite an almost arbitrary choice of a large number of parameters. This observation proves that quantum mechanical nonadiabatic transitions among a large number of states can effectively keep memory about the initial state of the system. This property can lead to a strongly non-ergodic behavior even in the thermodynamic limit of some systems with a broad distribution of coupling constants and the lack of energy conservation.