When physics helps mathematics: Calculation of the sophisticated multiple integral

Abstract

There exists a remarkable connection between the quantum mechanical Landau-Zener problem and purely classical-mechanical problem of a ball rolling on a Cornu spiral. This correspondence allows us to calculate a complicated multiple integral, a kind of multi-dimensional generalization of Fresnel integrals. A direct method of calculation is also considered but found to be successful only in some low-dimensional cases. As a byproduct of this direct method, an interesting new integral representation for ζ(2) is obtained.