Adiabatic Theory of Nonlinear Evolution of Quantum States

Abstract

We present a general theory for adiabatic evolution of quantum states as governed by the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, and provide examples of applications with a nonlinear tunneling model for Bose-Einstein condensates. Our theory not only spells out conditions for adiabatic evolution of eigenstates, but also characterizes the motion of non-eigenstates which cannot be obtained from the former in the absence of the superposition principle. We find that in the adiabatic evolution of non-eigenstates, the Aharonov-Anandan phases play the role of classical canonical actions.