Adiabatic Phases in Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

The notion of adiabaticity has played important role in the history of physics. Roughly speaking, it lies on the border of statics and dynamics, taking into account dynamical effects but in the limit of infinitely slow changes. That is, the system is no longer static but its evolution is “infinitely slow.” A typical situation where one applies adiabatic ideas is when a physical system may be divided into two subsystems with completely different time scales: a so-called slow subsystem and fast subsystem.