Adiabatic state Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
An electronic energy eigenstate at a fixed nuclear geometry. Its wavefunction and energy change with nuclear positions. Two same-symmetry states can exchange their dominant electronic character through an avoided crossing.
Band curvature 2026-10-18
Band curvature is the Hessian matrix of an energy band as a function of wavevector. Dividing it by gives the inverse band effective mass tensor. At a one-dimensional band minimum the curvature is positive, whereas at a maximum it is negative. Near a weak two-wave avoided crossing with reciprocal wavenumber and coupling magnitude , the two edge curvatures are . This is a crystal response coefficient, not a change in the bare electron mass.
Band hybridization 2026-10-18
Band hybridization mixes two orbital-derived bands through an off-diagonal Hamiltonian matrix element. For a real coupling ,An allowed bare crossing becomes an avoided crossing with direct separation . Orbital character transfers continuously between branches through the crossing. A direct separation alone does not guarantee a global band gap; the extrema at different wavevectors must also be compared.
Bragg point Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-18
A Bragg point is a crystal momentum at which two plane waves differing by a reciprocal lattice vector are degenerate. A periodic potential mixes the waves there, producing an avoided crossing and opening a band gap.
Cosine-potential gap in a quantum ring 2026-10-18
In the plane wave basis of a ring, has matrix elements . Near , degenerate perturbation theory on givesup to corrections from remote states. Thus the avoided crossing gap is to first order when .
For , a parabolic approximation about a potential minimum instead gives a local quantum harmonic oscillator spacing . A local gauge transformation removes the flux from this approximation. Actual ring levels retain exponentially small flux dependence through quantum tunnelling, while nonquadratic corrections to their mean energies are algebraic in .
Diabatic representation 2026-11-05
A diabatic representation describes coupled electronic states using a basis chosen to vary smoothly with nuclear geometry, often reducing the derivative couplings that appear in an adiabatic basis. In exchange, the electronic energy matrix generally has off-diagonal entries. It is a representation of coupled states, not a claim that the states never interact.
For a two-state example with nuclear coordinate ,The diagonal diabatic curves cross at , while their coupled adiabatic eigenvalues have an avoided crossing when . This makes electron transfer and nonadiabatic reaction models easier to interpret. An exactly derivative-coupling-free basis need not exist globally for every multidimensional molecular problem.
Flat band 2026-10-18
A flat band has energy independent of wavevector, and hence zero group velocity. A nearly flat band has small dispersion and, near a parabolic extremum, large band effective mass. Coupling a flat band to a dispersive band can produce an avoided crossing and a hybridization gap.
Landau-Zener transition Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
A Landau-Zener transition occurs when a changing parameter sweeps two coupled quantum states through an avoided crossing. In a two-state description,the uncoupled energy levels cross at , but the coupled energy eigenvalues have minimum separation . The adiabatic theorem predicts following an instantaneous energy eigenstate during a sufficiently slow sweep; a fast sweep can retain the original uncoupled-state character and thus change instantaneous energy eigenstate.
For an ideal linear sweep extending from to , the probability of remaining in the initial uncoupled state is . The exponent compares the square of the coupling with the rate of change of the uncoupled energy difference. This model helps estimate when a molecular passage through an avoided crossing or a controlled qubit sweep ceases to obey the adiabatic theorem.
Past exam of the advanced quantum physics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 3 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
The Zeeman effect comes from . For an electron, the orbital and spin magnetic moments are approximately and , respectively. This explains both the sign and the relative factor two in the term linear in . The second term is the spin-orbit interaction: the electron's motion through the atomic electric field produces a magnetic interaction in its rest frame. The relativistic correction, including Thomas precession, and the radial expectation value are incorporated into . This effective Hamiltonian retains the linear Zeeman splitting and spin-orbit coupling, while omitting diamagnetic and hyperfine structure corrections.
Define the angular momentum ladder operators by and similarly for . Direct expansion givesso adding gives the required scalar product. The off-diagonal terms change and in opposite directions. Consequently commutes with , and remains a good quantum number at every magnetic field.
In the given product eigenbasis, the diagonal matrix elements areFor and , the only off-diagonal couplings are between and , and between and . Each relevant orbital ladder factor is and each spin ladder factor is . Multiplying by gives . ThereforeAll other off-diagonal entries vanish either by the ladder endpoints or by conservation of . This derives every entry of the displayed matrix.
The stretched states have no mixing and yieldThe block is , while the block is . Taking the trace and determinant of each block gives the remaining four energy eigenvalues:The subscripts indicate and the superscripts indicate the upper or lower root. These formulas are the Zeeman spectrum for orbital angular momentum one and remain valid for either sign of .
For the usual ordering , including sodium, the zero-field states follow fromThe quartet lies at and the doublet at , separated by . In a weak magnetic field, the Landé g-factors giveThese label the curves near . In a strong magnetic field, the Paschen-Back effect makes the appropriate approximate labels:for the mixed states, with the stretched-state formulas already exact. The branch connections for areWithin a fixed , the nonzero coupling prevents a crossing; this is an avoided crossing. Curves with different may cross because the Hamiltonian does not couple them.
Exact spin-orbit and Zeeman energies for orbital angular momentum one and positive spin-orbit constant
. Details. For the sodium estimate, the zero-field frequency separation fixesThe lower doublet has shifts . The Sodium D-line Zeeman pattern gives photon-frequency shifts times for D and for D. Thus the highest-frequency D component and lowest-frequency D component approach each other by . Extrapolating the weak-field Zeeman splitting givesso the crossover occurs at a field of order , where and the weak-field approximation is becoming marginal.
The exact eigenvalues refine the estimate within this Hamiltonian. The relevant photon energies, with a common zero-field reference omitted, are and . The corresponding electric dipole transitions have and , respectively. Equating them givesIts positive solution is , hencein the retained model. The crossing is between optical transition frequencies; the participating upper states themselves need not be degenerate.
For the magnetic flux spectrum of a quantum ring, the periodic boundary condition permits the normalized plane waves , with . Their energy eigenvalues areShifting by an integer relabels , so the ordered energy levels have period one in , or in . For , the lowest two areextended periodically. The lowest branches cross at every half-integer , with energy . At integer , the first excited energy level has multiplicity two. The corresponding magnetic flux period is the electron magnetic flux quantum .
In the normalized plane wave basis, the only nonzero potential matrix elements areThus a useful small parameter is , which suppresses admixture of well-separated energy levels. First-order nondegenerate perturbation theory further requires for the coupled states. This latter condition fails near a half-integer even for very small ; there one must use degenerate perturbation theory in the nearly degenerate pair. Smallness is measured against the gaps to the other states, not the vanishing gap inside this pair.
Near , keep . The resulting Hamiltonian operator matrix and its eigenvalues areIn particular,For positive , the lower quantum state at the crossing is the symmetric combination of , and the upper state is the antisymmetric combination. A negative exchanges these combinations but leaves the ordered energy eigenvalues unchanged.
This cosine-potential gap in a quantum ring appears in the middle panel above: each lowest-branch crossing opens into an avoided crossing of gap to first order. Away from these crossings, the diagonal matrix elements vanish, so the leading shifts are second order. At integer , the two first-excited plane waves differ by two units of and therefore have no first-order coupling; their smaller splitting begins at second order. The numerical plot includes that splitting.
Past exam of the chemistry A course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Paper 2 A9 b ii 2 Solution 2026-10-20
With mixing and , the equal-on-site-energy result isFor the regime considered in part (iii), the crossing becomes an avoided crossing with gap at . The lower band has its maximum there and the upper band its minimum. Their orbital characters exchange smoothly across this region, with equal weights at its centre. The lower-right panel gives the sketch.
The zero-mixing limit recovers the crossing of case (1). A useful special limiting case is , where the square root is independent of wavevector and both bands are flat at . This flat-band limit is outside the strict assumption made in part (iii).
Past exam of the chemistry A course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Paper 2 A9 b i Solution 2026-10-20
The opposite spatial parity of the s orbital and axial p orbital gives opposite signs for left and right – hopping. With real , one consistent Bloch-basis convention givesThe resulting energies areThus s-p mixing in a one-dimensional tight-binding chain lowers the lower branch and raises the upper branch wherever the coupling is nonzero. For separated atomic levels, the lower branch remains mainly and the upper mainly , with increasing admixture where their uncoupled energies approach.
Past exam of the chemistry A course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Paper 2 A9 b iv Solution 2026-10-20
For , the positive branch ranges from to , and the negative branch from to . ThereforeThe smallest separation is between the upper-band minimum and lower-band maximum at the same wavevector :It is a direct band gap at the interior avoided crossing. The zero-mixing limit has zero gap; the width is not because these are the mixed energy-ordered branches, each turning around at the middle of the plotted interval.
Past exam of the condensed matter physics course of the University of Oxford 2022 2 a iii Solution 2026-10-25
For zero coupling, , and the two folded energy bands areThey touch at , where the underlying free plane wave branches cross. A nonzero Fourier coefficient replaces this crossing by an avoided crossing, with . The lower energy band moves downward and the upper energy band upward. Both branches are smooth near for .
The figure uses the boundary-centred interval required in part (b). With the printed definition , this is the translated Brillouin zone . The printed instead corresponds to ; the local two-wave formula must be folded appropriately before treating it as a dispersion over that entire zone. It must not be integrated over as though it were the filled first energy band there. The subsequent calculation follows the explicit continuation prescribed in part (b).
The requested bare labels require . Their four energies areAmong these four, the pair that is fully present in one interacting sector is . Its center is and its dressed branches areTheir endpoint values at and are the same, . At they are . The avoided crossing therefore has resonant gapAt the three horizontal-axis landmarks, the bare energies divided by are respectivelywhich specifies the vertical-axis labeling without assigning an unstated numerical . The original plot below uses illustrative and and shows this complete central doublet together with all four bare lines.
Four bare levels and the complete dressed doublet contained among them in the Jaynes-Cummings model
. Details. Sector qualification: the outer displayed state couples to , outside the requested bare set. Likewise couples to if ; for it is the isolated . Thus the four-state set cannot be diagonalized as a closed four-dimensional block. If branches associated with these outer states are also desired, complete those neighboring sectors and use the formula in part c with indices and .
Finally, “adjacent dressed states” within the shown resonant pair have the gap just boxed. Adjacent rungs of the dressed ladder are not equally spaced: at resonance,When neighboring doublets remain ordered, the gap between their nearest branches is . This distinguishes the within-doublet Rabi splitting from differences between adjacent excitation sectors.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 2 36D Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-10-14
Let . The free states and are degenerate at the Bragg point . Sincedegenerate perturbation theory restricts the Hamiltonian near this crossing toWriting and diagonalizing gives the nearly-free electron dispersion near a one-dimensional band gapThus the two continuous bands avoid crossing, and at their separation isThis is the nearly-free electron model. The dispersion relation is the relation between energy and Bloch wavevector.
For the specified potential,Henceand all other nonconstant Fourier coefficients vanish. The gaps are thereforeTheir centre energies are respectivelyThe extended-zone sketch consists of the free-particle parabolas shifted upward by , with avoided crossings of these two widths at the listed Bragg points; elsewhere they meet to this order because the corresponding Fourier coefficients vanish.
Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 2 Section C C10 Solution 2026-10-20
In a periodic crystal potential, atomic levels broaden into bands of allowed bloch states. Coupling between states of the same symmetry opens avoided crossings, including Bragg-coupled states in the nearly free-electron picture. Bonding and antibonding combinations provide a complementary tight-binding picture. A semiconductor has a filled valence band and an empty conduction band at zero temperature separated by a forbidden energy interval; thermal excitation, light and doping provide mobile electrons and holes. The gap depends on the crystal's periodic potential, bonding and symmetry, not on a classical collision barrier. In a direct gap, the relevant extrema coincide in wavevector.
For the stated parabolic edges, take and . Negligible photon momentum and no phonon make the transition nearly vertical in versus . parabolic-band optical energy sharing divides the excess photon energy in inverse proportion to the effective masses:Thus the initial and final electron energies, relative to the valence-band maximum, areTheir difference is . The selected is about ; either sign gives the same energy in this symmetric approximation.
A shallow donor supplies an electron in a screened impurity potential, so its localized level lies just below the conduction edge. A shallow acceptor binds a hole and has an electron-occupation level just above the valence edge; thermal ionization supplies mobile holes. The level positions are measured relative to the relevant band edge, and deep impurities need not obey this hydrogenic approximation.
For the supplied bound-carrier mass and unit effective ionic charge, dielectric screening and effective mass change the hydrogen binding energy toThis corresponds to and an effective Bohr radius about . The binding is shallow compared with the band gap and typical atomic binding. Trivalent denotes chemical valence, not an unscreened hydrogenic charge of three. An acceptor physically binds a hole; the question's stated is used as its stipulated bound-carrier mass rather than silently replacing it by the separate band-edge .
Original direct-gap vertical transition with mass-dependent energy sharing, and separate schematic shallow donor and acceptor levels
. Details. Choose the Fourier series conventionFor a real potential energy, . The symbol means the Fourier coefficient , with units of energy, rather than the pointwise value of at a position .
Retain the two plane waves and in the nearly-free electron model. Their kinetic energies are and . The matrix representation of a linear map for the Quantum Hamiltonian projected onto this two-dimensional basis isThus givesSolving this quadratic equation yieldsChoosing the zero of potential energy so that its spatial average is reproduces the requested expression. If that average has not been removed, both energy bands are shifted by ; no band gap, group velocity or effective mass is changed by this constant shift.
The two kinetic energies coincide at . Their coupling gives an avoided crossing with band gap . The result is exact within the projected two-wave Quantum Hamiltonian. It is an approximation to the full crystal problem, appropriate near this crossing for a weak periodic potential whose other Fourier coefficients do not cause strong mixing with remote plane waves. Small alone would not justify ignoring arbitrarily large other Fourier coefficients.
Past exam of the quantum condensed matter course of the University of Cambridge 2012 3 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Use two plane waves, and , as a basis near their Bragg degeneracy. The potential has Fourier coefficients ; its zero Fourier coefficient vanishes. All other plane waves are off resonance and are neglected in the leading nearly-free electron model. With , the Schrödinger equation reduces to the Hermitian matrix problemSetting the characteristic polynomial equal to zero givesSolving this quadratic equation givesFor the real cosine potential its coefficient is real; the absolute-value form also allows an arbitrary choice of origin and corresponding Fourier phase.
At the Brillouin-zone boundary, , the free energies are equal. The two standing waves have different probability densities relative to the lattice potential and are split byRepeating this avoided crossing at the reciprocal lattice boundaries joins smooth branches into energy bands. In one dimension a nonzero Fourier coefficient opens a gap at the corresponding crossing. In higher dimensions a direct gap at one wavevector need not give a common forbidden energy interval at every wavevector: different bands may still overlap in energy. The present two-dimensional example remains metallic even though the crossings are locally gapped.
For the rectangular lattice, choose real-space primitive vectors and . The reciprocal lattice vectors areDefine the half-widths of the first Brillouin zone by and . Their values and the zone areA primitive reciprocal cell can be drawn with a corner at the origin; its centred translate is the first Brillouin zone here. Its area is .
Including both spin states, counting the occupied free-electron states per unit area givesConsequentlyThe occupied disk has precisely the area of the first Brillouin zone, but their shapes differ: . It protrudes through both vertical zone boundaries and does not reach the horizontal ones. Thus two electrons per cell do not imply a filled first band in the absence of a separating band gap.
Fold the protruding caps by . The original circle and the translated circle intersect at , . The potential mixes these states and replaces each crossing by an avoided crossing. The lower branch reconnects into two open sheets running across successive zones in the direction; the upper branch forms a closed lens-shaped pocket about a vertical zone boundary. In a reduced-zone sketch its two halves sit at opposite edges, but periodic identification makes them one closed sheet. This is rectangular-lattice Fermi-surface reconstruction.
The largest pocket in this weak-potential construction is the lens-shaped intersection of two disks enclosed by the intersecting free circles. Each has radius and their centres are separated by . If , two sectors minus their two triangles give the lens bound on a reconstructed Fermi pocket:Opening a gap raises the upper branch at fixed chemical potential and shrinks its pocket. The reported quantum oscillation area satisfiesIt is therefore consistent with this closed sheet. Onsager quantization gives . An orbit on this closed contour can return to itself under the Lorentz force and occupy quantized Landau levels. The open sheets do not enclose a finite orbit area for a perpendicular field in this two-dimensional model. The observation is consistent with the reconstructed pocket, without uniquely determining a completely arbitrary band structure.
For a quantitative rough coupling estimate, use the supplied fixed-chemical-potential approximation and retain the two waves coupled by . WriteTheir upper eigenvalue isSetting it equal to gives the pocket boundaryIts intersection with occurs at , whereThe two-wave estimate of a Bragg-gap coupling from a pocket area therefore usesAt this reproduces the lens bound on a reconstructed Fermi pocket; the pocket disappears at . Numerical integration gives and . Matching the measured area gives , so the justified rough result isThis estimate neglects remote plane-wave admixtures and other Fourier coefficients. It also holds the chemical potential fixed as requested; an exact fixed-density calculation would determine it self-consistently after reconstruction. The numerical root is a way to implement the approximate model, not a measurement of to four significant figures.







