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Lecture Notes in Physics 965

Jonas Larson
Erik Sjöqvist
Patrik Öhberg

Conical
Intersections
in Physics
An Introduction to Synthetic Gauge
Theories
Lecture Notes in Physics

Volume 965

Founding Editors
Wolf Beiglböck, Heidelberg, Germany
Jürgen Ehlers, Potsdam, Germany
Klaus Hepp, Zürich, Switzerland
Hans-Arwed Weidenmüller, Heidelberg, Germany

Series Editors
Matthias Bartelmann, Heidelberg, Germany
Roberta Citro, Salerno, Italy
Peter Hänggi, Augsburg, Germany
Morten Hjorth-Jensen, Oslo, Norway
Maciej Lewenstein, Barcelona, Spain
Angel Rubio, Hamburg, Germany
Manfred Salmhofer, Heidelberg, Germany
Wolfgang Schleich, Ulm, Germany
Stefan Theisen, Potsdam, Germany
James D. Wells, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Gary P. Zank, Huntsville, AL, USA
The Lecture Notes in Physics

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Jonas Larson • Erik Sjöqvist • Patrik Öhberg

Conical Intersections
in Physics
An Introduction to Synthetic Gauge Theories

123
Jonas Larson Erik Sjöqvist
Department of Physics Department of Physics and Astronomy
Stockholm University Uppsala University
Stockholm, Sweden Uppsala, Sweden

Patrik Öhberg
IPaQS/EPS
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, UK

ISSN 0075-8450 ISSN 1616-6361 (electronic)

Lecture Notes in Physics
ISBN 978-3-030-34881-6 ISBN 978-3-030-34882-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34882-3

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

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To the memory of Stig Stenholm.
Preface

In the history of science we find many examples where the wheel has been
reinvented. It may be that some work, for some reason, fell into oblivion or it was
simply never recognised by the community. In Einstein’s two papers Quantentheorie
des einatomigen idealen Gases from 1924 and 1925, he essentially predicted
condensation. Einstein realised that there is a critical temperature below which
a single state becomes macroscopically populated; he calls it ‘condensation’.
Interestingly, at that time the concept of an order parameter had not been introduced,
but Einstein notices ‘One can assign a scalar wave field to such a gas’. What Einstein
was hinting at was what today is known as the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. It took,
however, Gross and Pitaevskii more than 30 years to write down the equation for
the classical field. Another example is that of the Aharonov–Bohm effect presented
in 1959. However, less known is that the effect was predicted already some 10 years
earlier by Ehrenberg and Siday.
The above gives two examples where a result in its full glory has not been
recognised (or it is simply not known). This often happens when essentially the
same phenomenon is rediscovered in different communities. The 1984 seminal work
by Berry on ‘phase factors accompanying adiabatic changes’ had two precursors.
Already in 1956, Pancharatnam demonstrated how the interference of two polarised
light beams depends on a geometric phase. While in 1958, Longuet-Higgins et
al. showed that adiabatic following around a conical intersection between two
electronic molecular potential surfaces resulted in a sign change of the wave
function. Berry’s work showed the generality of this phenomenon; whenever the
wave function adiabatically encircles some sort of singularity in parameter space it
acquires a geometric phase factor. Such singularity appears at a conical intersection
which is characterised by a point degeneracy of at least two energy surfaces in some
parameter space.
Conical intersections are to be found in a range of different physical systems, and
it seems that the importance of them has often been analysed independently in the
different communities. Thus, the physics of conical intersections can be regarded as
yet another example for where the wheel has been reinvented. Even if the concept
of conical intersections as such is the same in the different communities, there are

vii
viii Preface

still differences between conical intersections in say molecular and in condensed

matter physics. In this monograph we gather and discuss various systems where
conical intersections have played an important role. The similarities and differences
are highlighted, as well as drawing attention to the origin of the physics.
With the ever ongoing experimental progress in the microworld, the boundaries
between different fields of physics are becoming ever more diffuse. The cooling
and controlled manipulation of individual atoms/ions/molecules/photons have led
to an avalanche of new physics, ranging from single particle quantum control to in
situ explorations of quantum many-body systems. The interaction among hundreds
of ultracold atoms or ions can be monitored to such a degree that exotic phases of
matter can be experimentally investigated and tailored dynamics of closed quantum
many-body systems can for the first time be studied in the lab. It is possible to
construct on-chip electric circuits that realise novel photonic lattice models with
an effective photon–photon interaction mediated by superconducting quantum dots.
This elimination of clear boundaries between the different subfields asks for a better
and broader knowledge beyond ones expertise. It is our hope that this book can help
in bridging knowledge from different areas in physics.
Two of the main research directions in microscopic physics during the last couple
of decades are quantum simulators and topological matter. Geometric phases and
synthetic gauge theories play central roles in both these fields. It turns out that a
correct picture of some novel states of matter is only emerging after introducing
nonlocal quantities which are directly related to the geometric phase. Many of
the proposed quantum simulators consider noncharged particles (like atoms and
photons), and in order to simulate, for example, charge particles in a magnetic field
one needs to construct synthetic magnetic fields. The physics of conical intersections
serves as a very convenient introduction to synthetic gauge theories. The sign
change of the wave function upon adiabatically encircling a conical intersection
is a manifestation of a geometric phase, and it may be envisioned as if a magnetic
flux is penetrating the point of the conical intersection. In this sense, it bares many
similarities to the Aharonov–Bohm effect.
This book has been written with the hope that the reader must not be an expert
in some particular field in order to grasp its content. Ideally, it should be possible to
understand the ideas in say molecular or condensed matter physics without having
been particularly exposed to those fields. Basic knowledge in quantum mechanics
is, however, a prerequisite. Chapter 2 presents the general background to the topic.
Central is the concept of adiabaticity, which is essential in order to fully appreciate
the following chapters. However, it is not crucial to know Born–Oppenheimer theory
to understand the content of Chap. 4 on condensed matter physics. The following
four chapters can be read individually, even if there exist a few cross-references
between them in order to tie them together.
We have focused on three main fields in physics where conical intersections
are found. In Chap. 3 we discuss the basics of conical intersections in molecular
physics. It was also in this field that their importance was first discussed. They
mark the breakdown of the Born–Oppenheimer approximation and give rise to
many observable effects. The following Chap. 4 is devoted to conical intersections
Preface ix

in condensed matter physics. A crucial difference between conical intersections in

molecular and condensed matter physics is that in the former they appear in real
space while in the latter they are found in (quasi) momentum space. The example
known for most people is probably that of Dirac cones in graphene, but we also
discuss how they come about in spin–orbit coupled systems and how they generalise
to higher dimensions, so-called Weyl points. In Chap. 5, conical intersections in
systems of cold atoms are analyzed. Like for molecules, the underlying theory here
is that of Born–Oppenheimer. But in comparison to molecules, in these systems
there is a greater freedom to manipulate the actual model Hamiltonians which in
certain cases allows for more clean experimental tests.
In the book we also include a chapter on other physical systems where conical
intersections can emerge. In particular, it is shown how Jahn–Teller models that
appear in molecular physics are greatly related to the Jaynes–Cummings model
which forms a backbone of cavity quantum electrodynamics and trapped ion
physics. One section of this chapter is assigned to open quantum systems. Only
within the last years we have seen an enormous interest in ‘non-Hermitian’ quantum
mechanics and the importance of exceptional points. Such exceptional points can be
seen as conical intersections in the complex plane, and they typically show up in the
theory for open quantum systems.

Acknowledgements

Over the years, there have been many people who we have collaborated or discussed
with, people whom, in one way or another, have had an influence on this book. We
are especially thankful to Alexander Altland, Emil Bergholtz, Jean Dalibard, Marie
Ericsson, Barry Garraway, Gonzalo García de Polavieja, Nathan Goldman, Osvaldo
Goscinski, Hans Hansson, Niklas Johansson, Gediminas Juzeliūnas, Thomas Klein
Kvorning, Åsa Larson, Maciej Lewenstein, Jani-Petri Martikainen, Luis Santos, Ian
Spielman, Stig Stenholm, Robert Thomson, Dianmin Tong, Manuel Valiente, and
Johan Åberg.

Stockholm, Sweden Jonas Larson

Uppsala, Sweden Erik Sjöqvist
Edinburgh, UK Patrik Öhberg
September 2019
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1 Introduction .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Adiabatic Time-Evolution.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1 Adiabatic Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.2 Adiabatic Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.3 The Marzlin–Sanders Paradox .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.4 The Importance of the Energy Gap: Local Adiabatic
Quantum Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Gauge Structure of Time-Dependent Adiabatic Systems .. . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.1 The Wilczek–Zee Holonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.2 Adiabatic Evolution of a Tripod . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.3 Closing the Energy Gap: Abelian Magnetic Monopole
in Adiabatic Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4 Born–Oppenheimer Theory .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.1 Synthetic Gauge Structure of Born–Oppenheimer
Theory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.2 Adiabatic Versus Diabatic Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.3 Born–Oppenheimer Approximation . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4.4 Synthetic Gauge Structure of an Atom in an
Inhomogeneous Magnetic Field . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3 Conical Intersections in Molecular Physics . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1 Introduction .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Where Electronic Adiabatic Potential Surfaces Cross:
Intersection Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.1 The Existence of Intersections . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.2 Topological Tests for Intersections . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

xi
xii Contents

3.2.3
The Molecular Aharonov–Bohm Effect on the
Nuclear Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.3 The Jahn–Teller Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3.1 Spontaneous Breaking of Molecular Symmetry: The
Jahn–Teller Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3.2 The E ×  JT Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.4 Dynamical Manifestation of Conical Intersections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4 Conical Intersections in Condensed Matter Physics .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1 Band Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1.1 Bloch’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.1.2 Tight-Binding Model .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.1.3 Bloch and Wannier Functions .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1.4 Single Particle Lattice Models and Bloch Hamiltonians . . . . 61
4.1.5 Symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.1.6 Topological Invariant .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2 Spin–Orbit Couplings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2.1 Rashba and Dresselhaus Spin–Orbit Couplings.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.2.2 Intrinsic Spin Hall Effect .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.3 Superconductors .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.4 Graphene .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.4.1 Tight-Binding Band Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.4.2 Relativity at Almost ‘Zero’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4.3 The Haldane Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5 Weyl Semimetals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5 Conical Intersections in Cold Atom Physics . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.1 Introduction .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.2 Light–Matter Interactions and Optical Forces . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5.3 Adiabatic Dynamics and Synthetic Gauge Potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.3.1 The Adiabatic Principle and Dressed States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.3.2 A Pedagogical Example: The Two-Level System.. . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.4 Spin–Orbit Coupling and Non-Abelian Phenomena .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.4.1 Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.4.2 A Quasi-Relativistic Example: The Atomic
Zitterbewegung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.5 Cold Atoms and the Bose–Einstein Condensate . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.5.1 The Description of a Condensate . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.5.2 Conical Intersections and the Gross–Pitaevskii Equation . . . 122
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6 Conical Intersections in Other Physical Systems . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.1 Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.1.1 The Jaynes–Cummings and Quantum Rabi Models . . . . . . . . . 128
Contents xiii

6.1.2 The Intrinsic Anomalous Hall Effect in Cavity QED .. . . . . . . 130

6.2 Trapped Ions .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.3 Classical Optics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.4 Open Quantum Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.4.1 The Lindblad Master Equation.. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.4.2 Exceptional Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

A Identical Particles .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

A.1 Second Quantisation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
A.2 Peierls Substitution .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
A.2.1 Hofstadter Butterfly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Index . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chapter 1
Introduction

A rather old-fashion view of quantum mechanics is that it is an application of the physics

of waves. A not so old-fashion way to get interesting physics out of mathematical objects is
by studying their singularities. [1]

Conical intersections (CIs) are singularities of the energy spectra of parameter-

dependent quantum systems. The term refers to the formation of conically shaped
energy surfaces in the vicinity of points in parameter space where two or more
energies cross. CIs are important in physical settings characterised by slow and fast
degrees of freedom, such as the fast electrons and slow nuclei of a molecule, but
also for the evolution of quantum systems controlled by slow classical parameters,
as well as for the understanding topological characteristics of condensed matter
systems. In this way, the importance of CIs covers a significant portion of modern
quantum physics.
The CI concept appeared implicitly already in the late 1930s in the work
by Jahn and Teller on the stability of symmetric molecular configurations [2].
Longuet-Higgins and coworkers examined the dynamical consequences of CIs,
such as a fractional quantisation of the coupled electron-nuclear (vibronic) motion
in polyatomic molecules [3]. The analogy between the phase behaviour of an
adiabatic wave function in the vicinity of a CI and the Aharonov–Bohm effect was
described by Mead in the early 1980s [4]. But it was not until Berry demonstrated
the generality of the geometric phase and the gauge structure underlying adiabatic
time-evolution, that the importance of CIs was fully realised [5]. This insight has
led to several important new findings, such as new topological states of matter [6],
gauge structures governing the dynamics of cold neutral atoms in various trapping
geometries [7], and new forms of robust quantum computation [8].
In these Lecture Notes, we discuss the theory of CIs and the associated synthetic
gauge theories with applications to a range of physical systems. We focus on
essentially three different contexts where CIs are known to play a major role:
molecular physics, condensed matter systems, and trapped cold atoms. A key

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 1

J. Larson et al., Conical Intersections in Physics, Lecture Notes in Physics 965,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34882-3_1
2 1 Introduction

objective of the Lecture Notes is to emphasis the unifying aspect of CIs and synthetic
gauge structures in quantum physics.
Chapter 2 is devoted to the concept of adiabaticity in quantum systems. In
Sect. 2.2, we discuss the theory of adiabatic time-evolution and examine some of
its subtleties. The synthetic gauge structure associated with parameter-dependent
energy subspaces is described in Sect. 2.3. This gauge structure is generally non-
Abelian, meaning that it gives rise to matrix-valued ‘phase factors’ (more precisely,
unitary matrices), but becomes Abelian in the case of non-degenerate energies.
Here, we see the first example where CIs play a central role, namely that these
intersections are sources of magnetic monopoles, which are missing entities in
electromagnetism, but now can be studied experimentally in adiabatic systems.
In Sect. 2.4, we discuss the time-independent counterpart of adiabatic systems.
Here, the parameters are themselves quantum variables, such as the nuclear degrees
of freedom in a molecule or crystal. In this setting, the slow coordinates move on
adiabatic potential energy surfaces (APSs), being parameter dependent solutions
of the time-independent Schrödinger equation for the fast variables. Such ‘fast–
slow’ quantum systems are called Born–Oppenheimer systems. Just as in the time-
dependent case, the Born–Oppenheimer setting gives rise to synthetic gauge fields,
but now having a direct physical effect on the motion of the slow system.
In Chap. 3, we further explore the synthetic gauge structure in Born–
Oppenheimer systems, by considering the molecular case in more detail. As
mentioned above, the nuclear variables in a molecule play the role of slow
parameters coupled to the fast electronic degrees of freedom. In Sect. 3.2.1,
we examine different types of intersections between electronic APSs and in
Sect. 3.2.2, we discuss tests to find intersection points by using tools from algebraic
topology.
Sections 3.3 and 3.4 focus on the Jahn–Teller effect and its relation to CIs
between symmetry adapted electronic states. We discuss the linear+quadratic E × 
Jahn–Teller system, which, despite its simplicity, is associated with a quite intricate
CI structure. We examine the Berry phase as well as the dynamical implications
of the CI structure for the nuclear pseudo-rotational motion. In particular, we
demonstrate that this system provides a realisation of a spin Hall effect that is
manifest in the dynamics of the nuclei.
In Chap. 4, we turn our attention to condensed matter systems. An essential
conceptual difference between the CIs considered up to this point and those in
condensed matter systems is that the latter appear in momentum space. In other
words, a CI is a point or line in the Brillouin zone where two or more energy bands
cross. The perhaps most well-known example of such a crossing is for graphene,
i.e., a hexagonal monolayer of carbon atoms for which the Fermi surface is exactly
at the CIs. By linearising the dispersion, the electrons close to the Fermi level are
described by a Dirac-like equation in 2 + 1 dimensions, but with an effective ‘speed
of light’ being considerably smaller than c. CIs in the context of condensed matter
systems are therefore called Dirac points or Dirac CIs.
Dirac CIs are also of importance in spin–orbit coupled systems and in the BCS
theory of superconductivity. Another central concept, used in order to analyse con-
1 Introduction 3

densed matter systems with non-trivial topological features, is the Chern number.
This quantity is a topological invariant of an energy band in two dimensions and is
defined as the Berry phase integrated over the whole Brillouin zone. Its importance
is evident as it is directly related to the quantised Hall conductivity.
The motion of cold atoms in slowly varying inhomogeneous laser fields is
governed by artificial gauge fields that arise when the lasers induce fast transitions
between the internal atomic levels. These gauge fields can be Abelian or non-
Abelian. In Chap. 5, we discuss the slow motion of cold atoms in inhomogeneous
optical fields and some of the peculiar effects associated with the artificial gauge
structure. Standing laser wave fields can be used to create optical lattice that can
be used to simulate real crystals by injecting atoms into the periodic structure and
thereafter studying their motion.
Sections 5.2 and 5.3 contain a description of light–atom interaction and the
adiabatic dynamics associated with the induced synthetic gauge fields. The idea is
to view the atom as a Born–Oppenheimer-like system for which the centre of mass
and the internal energy levels play the role as the slow and fast degrees of freedom,
respectively. These ‘subsystems’ are coupled via the inhomogeneity of the laser
fields, which are assumed to vary sufficiently slowly for the system to be adiabatic.
Just as in the spin systems discussed in Chap. 2, the induced gauge fields take the
form of magnetic monopoles located at CIs, now in the space defined by the laser
parameters. We discuss, in Sect. 5.4, how non-Abelian synthetic gauge fields can be
obtained if the lasers couple three ground state levels to an excited stated, forming
a tripod system. These gauge fields can be used to simulate relativistic effects, such
as Zitterbewegung, which otherwise require relativistic particles.
The synthetic gauge fields are not limited to single atom systems. In Sect. 5.5, we
discuss the theory of Bose–Einstein condensates, in which a cloud of atoms undergo
a phase transition so as to behave as a macroscopically occupied single quantum
state at sufficiently low temperatures. The description of a condensate differs
significantly from fundamental quantum systems in that the atom–atom collisions
give rise to non-linear effects, as described by the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. The
non-linearity implies that CIs can have completely different shapes in parameter
space, as discussed in Sect. 5.5.2.
In Chap. 6, we examine CIs in some other system. We first consider cavity
electrodynamics in Sect. 6.1. Here, the internal levels of an atom are coupled to
a quantised cavity field. This system is described by the Rabi or Jaynes–Cummings
models. In the semi-classical regime, one obtains CIs in the quadrature phase space.
In particular, we demonstrate how such a system can give rise to an intrinsic
anomalous Hall effect.
In Sect. 6.2, we discuss a system of trapped ions interacting with the vibrations
in the trap. The ion trap and cavity settings both describe a discrete level system
interacting with a harmonic oscillator system, in the former case the oscillations in
the trap while in the latter case the oscillations of the photon standing wave in the
cavity. We show how the ion trap system can be used to realise different types of
Jahn–Teller systems.
4 1 Introduction

The relevance of CIs is not restricted to quantum systems. They may occur also
in classical wave systems. In Sect. 6.3, we discuss how such intersections may show
up for classical light of sufficiently long wavelength moving through materials with
a small space-dependent refractive index and how lattice models can be emulated in
such settings. These systems may realise Dirac cones by appropriately choosing the
lattice structure. Among other conical singularity structures in classical systems, but
not covered by these Lecture Notes, are found in Einstein’s theory of gravity. These
structures occur along the world sheet of cosmic strings [9] and for black holes [10].
They differ conceptually from those considered here in the sense that they contain a
single cone and not two intersecting ones.
In Sect. 6.4, we end our expose over CIs in quantum physics by considering what
happens if the system is open. An open system is defined as a quantum system that
interacts with some kind of ‘environment’. This means that we need to replace the
Schrödinger equation by an effective description, which we obtain by tracing over
the environmental degrees of freedom. Under certain approximations (essentially
the Markov limit), this is described by the Lindblad equation, which is a master
equation that models the evolution of the density operator. The Liouvillian of a
Lindblad equation is not Hermitian, and the energies typically become complex-
valued. Thereby, the concept of CIs drastically change. Still there is a notion of
energy level crossings in parameter space, called exceptional points, which are
essentially CIs where both the real and imaginary parts of the spectrum cross
simultaneously.

References

1. Berry, M.V.: Wave geometry: a plurality of singularities. In: Anandan, J.S. (ed.) Quantum
Coherence, pp. 92–98. World Scientific, Singapore (1991)
2. Jahn, H.A., Teller, E.: Stability of polyatomic molecules in degenerate electronic states. I.
Orbital degeneracy. Proc. R. Soc. A. 161, 220 (1937)
3. Longuet-Higgins, H.C., Öpik, U., Pryce, M.H.L., Sack, R.A.: Studies of the Jahn–Teller effect.
II. The dynamical problem. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser. A 244, 1 (1958)
4. Mead, C.A.: The molecular Aharonov-Bohm effect in bound states. Chem. Phys. 49, 23 (1980)
5. Berry, M.V.: Quantal phase factors accompanying adiabatic evolution. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Ser.
A 392, 45 (1984)
6. Bernevig, B.A.: Topological Insulators and Topological Superconductors. Princeton University
Press, Princeton and Oxford (2013)
7. Dalibard, J., Gerbier, F., Juzeliūnas, G., Öhberg, P.: Colloquium: artificial gauge potentials for
neutral atoms. Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1523 (2011)
8. Carollo, A.C.M., Vedral, V.: Holonomic quantum computation. In: Bruß, D., Leuchs, G. (eds.)
Quantum Information: From Foundations to Quantum Technology Applications, pp. 475–482.
Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA (2019)
9. Oliveira-Neto, G.: Identifying conical singularities. J. Math. Phys. 37, 4716 (1996)
10. Solodukhin, S.N.: Conical singularity and quantum corrections to the entropy of a black hole.
Phys. Rev. D 51, 609 (1995)
Chapter 2
Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

Abstract We identify two scenarios where the concept of adiabaticity emerges,

differing on whether the slow parameters are themselves dynamical variables or not.
In both cases, the separation of time-scales leads to synthetic gauge structures that
have measurable consequences. We describe the basic theory of adiabatic evolution.
Conical intersections, which are points in the space of slow parameters where two or
more energies cross, are of central importance for the understanding of the emergent
synthetic gauge fields in adiabatic systems.

2.1 Introduction

Solving the Schrödinger equation is a central problem in physics, since it determines

the allowed energies and the time-evolution of quantum-mechanical systems. How-
ever, to find these solutions is a difficult task if the involved Hamiltonian contains
many degrees of freedom or has a non-trivial time-dependence. These features make
the problem to find exact solutions of the Schrödinger equation quickly intractable in
practise. Thus, simplifying approximations are highly needed. Our objective here is
to describe the physics related to adiabatic evolution, which is an approximate form
of dynamics of quantum-mechanical systems that has applications in essentially all
subfields of quantum physics.
Adiabaticity basically quantifies the notion of slowness and applies to situations
where different quantities vary on vastly different time-scales. It appears in two
classes of situations in quantum physics:
• Time-dependent quantum-mechanical systems that are driven by slowly chang-
ing classical parameters (for instance, the phase and amplitude of a laser field
that drives transitions in an atom).
• Time-independent composite quantum-mechanical systems that can be divided
into subsystems associated with very different masses (for instance, the electrons
and nuclei of a molecule or a crystal).
Slowness in the latter of these situations is related to the fact that objects with ‘large’
mass, in a relative sense, typically move slower than objects with ‘small’ mass.

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J. Larson et al., Conical Intersections in Physics, Lecture Notes in Physics 965,
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6 2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

We shall see that the notion of adiabaticity is associated with rich physical
properties and conceptual subtleties. In this chapter, we outline the basic theory
for adiabatic evolution and provide some examples. We start with time-dependent
systems in Sect. 2.2, where we delineate the conditions under which adiabatic
evolution occurs. Section 2.3 shows how a synthetic gauge structure, similar
to that of electromagnetism, appears in the adiabatic regime of time-dependent
systems. Section 2.4 addresses the time-independent situation, leading to the Born–
Oppenheimer approximation. It turns out that this approximation can be associated
with a similar kind of synthetic gauge theory as in the time-dependent case. In this
way, the synthetic gauge structure serves as a unifying aspect of adiabatic systems.

2.2 Adiabatic Time-Evolution

Adiabatic time-evolution of a quantum-mechanical object is enforced by slowly

varying some experimental control parameters R (such as the phases and amplitudes
of a set of laser beams, or the direction of a magnetic field) along a path C : [0, 1] 
s → R(s) in parameter space. Such a process is described by a continuous family
of Hamiltonians Ĥ (R(t/T )), t ∈ [0, T ]. Here, the run-time T roughly measures the
‘slowness’ of the parameter change: if T is much larger than the minimal energy
gap of the Hamiltonian family, then the parameters are said to undergo a ‘slow’ or
‘adiabatic’ change.

2.2.1 Adiabatic Theorem

The precise meaning of ‘slowness’ is given by the adiabatic theorem. Here, we state
this important theorem and specify under which premises it holds.
The adiabatic theorem gives the rate at which transitions between the eigenspaces
of Ĥ (R(t/T )) tend to zero when T → ∞. Explicitly, by means of the parameter
change t → s = t/T , the adiabatic theorem can be stated as

ÛT (s, 0)P̂n (R(0)) − P̂n (R(s))ÛT (s, 0) = O(1/T ), T → ∞, ∀n, (2.1)

where P̂n (R(s)) is an eigenprojector of Ĥ (R(s)) associated with the energy

eigenvalue εn (s) and
s
Ĥ (R(s  ))ds 
ÛT (s, 0) = T e−iT 0 (2.2)

is the exact time-evolution operator (T denotes time-ordering; we put h̄ = 1

throughout this chapter). The theorem can be proved (see, for instance, [1]) provided
2.2 Adiabatic Time-Evolution 7

the following three premises holds:

(i) The eigenvalues εn (R(s)) of the instantaneous Hamiltonian are continuous
functions of s.
(ii) The eigenvalues do not cross on s ∈ [0, 1].
d d2
(iii) ds P̂n (R(s)) and ds 2 P̂n (R(s)) are well-defined and piecewise continuous.

An implication of these conditions is that the rank of P̂n (R(s)) is not allowed to
change, not even at isolated points, on s ∈ [0, 1].
To see what the adiabatic theorem means, let us consider the simplest case where
the eigenprojector is one-dimensional (rank = 1) so that we can write P̂n (R(s)) =
|ψn (R(s)) ψn (R(s))| throughout the evolution. If the system starts in the state
|Φ(0) = |ψn (R(0)) and all the premises (i)–(iii) hold, then (2.1) implies

|Φ(R(s)) = ÛT (s, 0)|ψn (R(0))

= |ψn (R(s)) ψn (R(s))|ÛT (s, 0)|ψn (R(0)) + O(1/T ) (2.3)

when T → ∞. We thus see that if the system starts in an energy eigenstate,

it remains in an energy eigenstate for s ∈ [0, 1]. We further note that UT (s, 0)
preserves the norm of the state, which implies

ψn (R(s))|ÛT (s, 0)|ψn (R(0)) → eiκn (s) (2.4)

in the adiabatic T → ∞ limit. We shall have more to say about the phase κn (s) in
Sect. 2.3.3 below.

2.2.2 Adiabatic Approximation

The adiabatic theorem gives the rate at which a given state starting in an eigen-
subspace of the system Hamiltonian remains in the eigensubspace when the
Hamiltonian change becomes increasingly slow. However, it should be clear that
the state never follows the instantaneous energy eigenstates perfectly for a large but
finite T ; there are always small but non-zero non-adiabatic transitions between the
eigensubspaces. Thus, perfect adiabatic evolution is an idealisation and in practical
applications it becomes essential to tell how well the evolution coincides with the
adiabatic one. Here, we find a useful condition that answers this question.
Consider a quantum system with Hilbert gspace H and parameter-dependent
Hamiltonian Ĥ (R(s)). Let P̂n (R(s)) = n
k=1 |ψn;k (R(s)) ψn;k (R(s))|, n =
1, . . . , K ≤ dim H , be the eigenprojectors of Ĥ (R(s)), gn being the rank (degree
of degeneracy) of the nth eigensubspace, with corresponding energies εn ((R(s))).
The eigensubspaces span the Hilbert space, meaning that any solution |Φ(s) of the
8 2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

reparametrised (t → s = t/T ) Schrödinger equation

i|Φ̇(s) = T Ĥ (R(s))|Φ(s) (2.5)

can be expanded in the energy eigenstates, i.e. we may write


K 
gn s
εn (s  )ds 
|Φ(s) = e−iT 0 |ψn;k (R(s)) cn;k (s). (2.6)
n=1 k=1

By inserting this into (2.5) and integrating, we obtain

gn 
 s
cn;k (s) = cn;k (0) − ψn,k (R(s  ))|ψ̇n,l (R(s  )) cn;l (s  )ds 
l=1 0


K gn  s
  s
Δnm (R(s  ))ds 
− eiT 0 ψn,k (R(s  ))|ψ̇m,l (R(s  )) cm;l (s  )ds  (2.7)
m=n=1 l=1 0

with the energy gap functions Δnm = εn − εm . The third term on the right-hand side
of (2.7) describes non-adiabatic transitions between the energy eigensubspaces and
should be negligible in the adiabatic regime. It contains two competing time-scales:
the rate of transition between the eigensubspaces

1    
ψn,k (R(s))|ψm,l (R(s + δs))  =  ψn,k (R(s))|ψ̇m,l (R(s))  (2.8)
δs
and the ‘intrinsic’ oscillation frequency for transitions between the eigensubspaces
of the instantaneous Hamiltonian
  s 
 d 
T   
ds Δnm (R(s )) = T |Δnm (R(s))| (2.9)
 ds
0

 s  
associated with the phase factors eiT 0 Δnm (R(s ))ds . Intuitively, the non-adiabatic
term of (2.7) washes out due to these oscillatory phase factors when the intrinsic
frequency is much larger than the transition rate. This yields the adiabatic condition,
 
 ψn,k (R(s))|ψ̇m,l (R(s)) 
T   , ∀s ∈ [0, 1], ∀m. (2.10)
 Δ (R(s)) 
nm

By using the eigenvalue equation Ĥ (R(s))|ψn;k (R(s)) = εn (R(s))|ψn;k (R(s)) ,

one can write the adiabatic condition on the alternative form
 
 ψ (R(s))| d Ĥ (R(s))|ψ (R(s)) 
 n,k m,l 
T  ds
 , ∀s ∈ [0, 1], ∀m. (2.11)
 Δ2nm (R(s)) 
2.2 Adiabatic Time-Evolution 9

The adiabatic condition is necessary to guarantee the validity of the adiabatic

approximation [2]. This approximation entails that for large but finite T any
initial state that starts in an eigensubspace approximately follows this eigenstate
throughout the evolution. In other words,


gn
|Φ(0) = |ψn;k (R(0)) → |Φ(s) ≈ |ψn;l (R(s)) cn;l (s)
l=1
 
 ψn,k (R(s))|ψ̇m,l (R(s)) 
⇒T   , ∀s ∈ [0, 1]. (2.12)
 Δ (R(s)) 
nm

However, it is important to note that the reverse is not true since the relation between
the adiabatic condition and the adiabatic approximation is valid under one important
caveat: the adiabatic theorem should hold in the T → ∞ limit, which means, in
particular, that all the premises (i)–(iii) (see Sect. 2.2.1) must be satisfied by the
Hamiltonian of the system. The Marzlin–Sanders paradox [3], as will be discussed
in the following section, illustrates this point in a striking way.

2.2.3 The Marzlin–Sanders Paradox

In an instructive attempt to problematize the notion of adiabaticity in quantum

mechanics, Marzlin and Sanders [3] constructed a model system that satisfies the
adiabatic condition but fails to generate adiabatic evolution. As we shall see, their
construction demonstrates a subtle consequence of when some of the premises of
the adiabatic theorem fails.
The starting point of the Marzlin–Sanders argument is a one-parameter Hamil-
tonian family Ĥ (s), s ∈ [0, 1], that drives the evolution of a quantum-mechanical
system (any possible R-dependence in the system is irrelevant for the argument
and is therefore omitted for notational simplicity). This Hamiltonian family is
applied for a run-time T . We assume the corresponding energies εn (s) and energy
eigenvectors |ψn;k (s) satisfy the premises of the adiabatic theorem; thus, for T
satisfying the adiabatic condition in (2.10), the system undergoes approximate
adiabatic evolution.
Next, define the ‘mirror’ Hamiltonian

ˆ (s, T ) = −Û † (s, 0)Ĥ (s)Û (s, 0),


H (2.13)
T T

ÛT (s, 0) being the exact time-evolution operator associated with Ĥ (s). Note that,
unlike Ĥ , Hˆ does not define a fixed one-parameter family of Hamiltonians for all

ˆ is a function of both s and T . Conceptually, this means that the notion of

T , i.e. H
‘slowness’ becomes ambiguous; indeed, one can see from its definition that H ˆ (s, T )

10 2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

oscillates in an increasingly rapid fashion when T grows. Nevertheless, the energy

gaps Δnm (s) = −Δnm (s) and energy eigenstates |ψ n;k (s) = Û † (s, 0)|ψn;k (s) of
T
the mirror system satisfy the same adiabatic condition as in the original system,
 
 ψ ˙ (s) 
 n;k (s)|ψ
 m;l 
 
 Δnm (s) 
 
 iT ψ (s)|Ĥ (s)|ψ (s) + ψ (s)|ψ̇ (s) 
 n;k m;l n;k m;l 
= 
 −Δnm (s) 
 
 ψn;k (s)|ψ̇m;l (s) 
=    T, (2.14)
Δnm (s) 

where we have used the Schrödinger equation i ÛT (s, 0) ∂s ∂

ÛT† (s, 0) = Ĥ (s) of the
original system.
Now, we ask: does the mirror system perform approximate adiabatic evolution for
run-time T satisfying (2.14)? In other words, does the adiabatic condition imply the
adiabatic approximation in this mirror system? To see whether this is the case, we
note that adiabatic evolution means that transitions between the energy subspaces
are negligible. For the original system, this is equivalent to
 
 
 ψm=n;l (s)|ÛT (s, 0)|ψn;k (0)  ≈ 0, ∀s ∈ [0, 1], ∀k, l. (2.15)

ˆ (s, 0) =

Let us test whether this holds for the mirror system. We note that U T
†
ÛT (s, 0), which implies
   
  ˆ (s, 0)|ψ
 n;k (0)   † 
 ψm=n;l (s)|U T  =  ψm=n;l (s)|ÛT (s, 0)ÛT (s, 0)|ψn;k (0) 
 
=  ψm=n;l (s)|ψn;k (0)  , (2.16)

which can take any value between 0 and 1. We thus arrive at the seemingly para-
doxical conclusion that although the mirror system satisfies the adiabatic condition,
it does not, in general, evolve adiabatically. That is, the adiabatic condition does not
imply the validity of the adiabatic approximation.
The origin of the paradox can be seen by noting that not all premises (i)–(iii) of
the adiabatic theorem (see Sect. 2.2.1) are satisfied by the mirror Hamiltonian [4].
Specifically, premises (i) and (ii) concern the energy gaps and are therefore equally
valid for Hˆ (s, T ) and Ĥ (s) since 
 εn (s) = −εn (s). The critical premise is instead
(iii), which holds, by assumption, for H (s) but not for H ˆ (s, T ). The reason is that

the eigenprojectors P ˆ (s, T ) = Û † (s, 0)P̂ (s)Û (s, 0) of the mirror Hamiltonian
n T n T
contain exponential factors, originating from ÛT (s, 0), whose argument tends to
infinity when T → ∞. These arguments make the derivatives of P ˆ (s, T ) undefined
n
2.2 Adiabatic Time-Evolution 11

in the adiabatic limit, thus invalidating the prerequisites for the adiabatic theorem.
One can therefore not expect that the adiabatic condition to have any relation to the
adiabatic approximation for this model system.

2.2.4 The Importance of the Energy Gap: Local Adiabatic

Quantum Search

The energy gaps Δnm (s) are essential for the adiabatic approximation. These gaps
should be continuous functions, should never vanish, and should be sufficiently large
so as to prevent transitions between different energy subspaces during the evolution.
This latter aspect can be used for performing computation. As an illustration of the
role of the gap for adiabaticity, we shall consider one such computational problem,
which is how adiabatic evolution can be used to search for a marked item in an
unstructured database in an efficient way.
Suppose we wish to find a single marked item ν in an unstructured list of
N entries. This problem can be mapped to a fixed orthonormal basis {|k }N k=1
spanning an N-dimensional Hilbert space of a quantum system. We consider the
one-parameter family of Hamiltonians

1 
N
Ĥ (s) = −(1 − s)|Ψ Ψ | − s|ν ν|, |Ψ = √ |k , (2.17)
N k=1

where s = t/T ∈ [0, 1], T being the run-time. Ĥ (s) has a decoupled (N − 2)-
fold degenerate zero energy excited eigensubspace and two lower non-degenerate
eigenstates |Eg (s) and |Ee (s) with corresponding energies Eg (s) < Ee (s) < 0,
defining the non-zero energy gap function,

1 + (N − 1)(2s − 1)2 1
Δ(s) = Ee (s) − Eg (s) = ≥√ , (2.18)
N N

the lower bound reached at s = 12 , thus Δmin = Δ( 12 ) = √1 . By preparing the

N
system at s = 0 in the ground state |Φ(0) = |Eg (0) = |Ψ , the state ends
up with high probability in the ground state of Ĥ (1) if the evolution is performed
adiabatically. Since this ground state is |Eg (1) = |ν , we can find the marked item
by measuring in the |k basis at s = 1. More precisely, if we wish to find the marked
state |ν with a chosen accuracy   1, meaning that the success probability is

| ν|Φ(1) |2 ≥ 1 −  2 , (2.19)
12 2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

then T must be chosen so that

   
 d   d 
max  Ee (s)| ds Ĥ (s)|Eg (s)  max  Ee (s)| ds Ĥ (s)|Eg (s) 
= ≤   1, (2.20)
T Δ2min (s) T N −1

where we have used (2.18). By diagonalising Ĥ (s), one can show that
 
 
 Ee (s)| d Ĥ (s)|Eg (s)  ≤ 1, (2.21)
 ds 

which combined with (2.20) implies

N
T ≥ . (2.22)

Thus, the time required to find the marked item with a given accuracy  scales as N,
which coincides with the scaling of classical search.
However, we can do better by optimising the adiabatic evolution. The idea is to
vary the speed so that the evolution slows down when the minimal gap between the
ground and first excited states is approached. In other words, one looks for time-
local reparametrisations t → s = s(t) ∈ [0, 1] that can improve how the run-time
T scales with the size N of the database. This is achieved by requiring the adiabatic
condition in (2.20) to hold locally at each infinitesimal time step, i.e.
 
 d 
 Ee (s)| ds Ĥ (s)|Eg (s) 
|ṡ(t)| ≤ . (2.23)
Δ2 (s)

Equation (2.21) implies that ṡ(t) = Δ2 (s) satisfies (2.23) and can be integrated to
yield

1 N √ √
t (s) = √ arctan( N − 1(2s − 1)) + arctan N − 1 . (2.24)
2 N − 1

It can be proved that (2.24) is the optimal choice of reparametrisation [5]. We show
the function s(t) on [0, T ] in Fig. 2.1 for N = 4, 16, 36, and 64 with 96% success
probability (i.e.  = 0.2). The run-time of the search is

1 N √ π√
T = t (1) = √ arctan N − 1 ≥ N (2.25)
 N −1 2
√
for large N. The linear scaling with N is clearly visible in Fig. 2.1. This quadratic
speed-up is achieved by utilising the central role of energy gaps in adiabatic
evolution.
2.3 Gauge Structure of Time-Dependent Adiabatic Systems 13

s
1

0.5

t
25 50

Fig. 2.1 Scaling of the run-time for searching a marked item out of N items, where N = 4
(dotted), N = 16 (dashed), N = 36 (dashed-dotted), and N = 64 (solid). The accuracy is set
to  = 0.2, meaning √ that the success probability is 96%. We see that the run-time T = t (1)
scales linearly with N. Note how the system spends increasingly more time in the vicinity of the
minimum energy gap at s = 12 in order to satisfy the local adiabatic condition in (2.23)

2.3 Gauge Structure of Time-Dependent Adiabatic Systems

A synthetic gauge structure, similar to that of electromagnetism, emerges in adia-

batic time-evolution. This gauge structure is associated with the curved geometry
of the quantum-mechanical state space and plays a crucial role in the understanding
of adiabatic change. For degenerate energy eigensubspaces, as first demonstrated
by Wilczek and Zee [6], the gauge structure becomes non-Abelian, i.e. it leads to
state changes that can be described in terms of non-commuting unitary operators
acting on the input state. In the special case of non-degenerate eigensubspaces,
Berry [7] showed that the state picks up a phase factor that can be described in
terms of an Abelian synthetic gauge field. Close to points in parameter space where
two or more energies intersect, this Abelian gauge field resembles that of a magnetic
monopole; an elusive missing entity of electromagnetism. The unitary operators and
phase factors are solely dependent on the adiabatic paths taken in parameter space.

2.3.1 The Wilczek–Zee Holonomy

In the adiabatic regime, the evolution of a degenerate energy eigensubspace

becomes purely geometric in the sense that the state change becomes a pure function
of the path in parameter space. Here, we discuss how this change can be understood
as a synthetic gauge theory, as outlined by Wilczek and Zee [6].
14 2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

Consider a quantum-mechanical system starting in an energetically degenerate

subspace (gn ≥ 2) and being adiabatically driven along a path C : [0, 1]  s →
R(s) in an LR -dimensional parameter space with R = (R1 , . . . , RLR ). We shall
assume C is a loop, i.e. R(1) = R(0). We show that the state change in the adiabatic
regime as described by (2.7) by neglecting non-adiabatic transition terms, i.e.
gn 
 s
cn;k (s) = cn;k (0) − ds  ψn,k (R(s  ))|ψ̇n,l (R(s  )) cn;l (s  ), (2.26)
l=1 0

only depends on the loop C .

We first solve (2.26) iteratively,


gn  R(s)
cn;k (s) = δkl − dR(s  ) · ψn,k (R(s  ))|∇R(s)ψn,l (R(s  ))
l=1 R(0);C

gn 
 R(s)
+ dR(s  ) · ψn,k (R(s  ))|∇R(s  ) ψn,l  (R(s  ))
l  =1 R(0);C
 R(s  )
× dR(s  ) · ψn,l  (R(s  ))|∇R(s  ) ψn,l (R(s  )) − · · · cn;l (0),
R(0);C

(2.27)
 R(s  )
where we have used the chain rule d/ds = Ṙ(s) · ∇R . The notation R(0);C dR(s  )·
stands for a path integral along C , starting at R(0) and ending at a point R(s  )
between the end-points of C . Since all path integrals take place over portions of C ,
it follows that one can formally rewrite (2.27) at s = 1 as


gn  
Aαn (R)dRα
cn;k (1) = Pei C cn;l (0), (2.28)
kl
l=1

where P is path ordering along C and sum over repeated parameter indices is
understood. Here,

Aαn;kl (R) = i ψk (R)|∂ α ψl (R) (2.29)

is the matrix-valued Hermitian synthetic gauge (Wilczek–Zee) connection with

∂ α = ∂/∂Rα . Thus, a given input state


gn
|Φ(0) = |ψn;k (R(0)) cn;k (0) (2.30)
k=1
2.3 Gauge Structure of Time-Dependent Adiabatic Systems 15

transforms into

1 
gn  
|Φ(1) = e−iT 0 εn (R(s))ds
|ψn;k (R(0)) Pei C Aαn (R)dRα
cn;l (0) (2.31)
kl
k,l=1

 α

after completing the loop. The unitary matrix Un;kl (C ) ≡ Pei C An (R)dRα
kl
is the Wilczek–Zee holonomy or non-Abelian geometric phase associated with
the adiabatic
1
loop C in parameter space. Note that the dynamical phase factor
−iT 0 εn (R(s))ds
e is factored out as a global phase with no observable effect on the
state change.
The above synthetic gauge connection (2.29) is a quantity that we will meet
throughout this book. It constitutes the basis for a synthetic gauge theory associated
with adiabatic evolution. To see this, we first state the meaning of gauge choice and
gauge transformations. The chosen basis of the eigensubspace is the gauge choice
and a gauge transformation is a smooth local basis change,


gn
n;k (R(s)) =
|ψn;k (R(s)) → |ψ |ψn;l (R(s)) Vlk (R(s)), (2.32)
l=1

under which the synthetic gauge connection transforms as a proper gauge potential,

α (R) = i ψ
Aαn;kl (R) → A n;k (R)|∂ α ψ
n;l (R)
n;kl


gn
†

gn
†
= Vkp (R)Aαn;pq (R)Vql (R) + i Vkp (R)∂ α Vpl (R). (2.33)
p,q=1 p=1

The inhomogeneous term on the right-hand side shows that the gauge connection
is not directly accessible experimentally, just as the vector potential in electro-
magnetism is a gauge dependent quantity and therefore is not uniquely defined by
the observable electromagnetic field. On the other hand, experimentally accessible
quantities should transform unitarily under gauge transformations in order for
expectation values and probabilities to be basis independent. Indeed, one finds that
the Wilczek–Zee holonomy transforms unitarily,


gn
†
Un;kl (C ) → Vkp (R(0))Un;pq (C )Vql (R(0)) (2.34)
p,q=1

under the smooth basis change in (2.32). Similarly, the anti-symmetric curvature
tensor, defined as

n (R) = ∂ An (R) − ∂ An (R) + i[An (R), An (R)],

Fαβ α β β α α β
(2.35)
16 2 Theory of Adiabatic Evolution

αβ
transforms unitarily under a gauge transformation. Fn is the non-Abelian analogue
of the electromagnetic curvature tensor, which defines the electromagnetic field.
In particular, note how the last commutator term vanishes identically in the non-
degenerate case gn = 1.
The curvature tensor tells us whether the gauge connection is curved or not, i.e.
whether the gauge structure can have a physical influence on the adiabatic evolution
or not. In particular, the curvature tensor has an immediate relation to the energy
gaps of the system, as can be seen by rewriting (2.35) by means of the instantaneous
Schrödinger equation H (R)|ψn;l (R) = εn (R)|ψn;l (R) yielding

αβ
Fn;kl (R)


K 
gm
ψn;k (R)|∂ α H (R)|ψm;p (R) ψm;p (R)|∂ β H (R)|ψn;l (R)
=i
Δ2nm (R)
m=n=1 p=1

ψn;k (R)|∂ β H (R)|ψm;p (R) ψm;p (R)|∂ α H (R)|ψn;l (R)

− . (2.36)
Δ2nm (R)

In other words, the curvature tensor is singular where the energy gaps close. We shall
see in the examples below that the vicinity regions of ‘intersection points’ where two
or more energies cross (become degenerate) are associated with a gauge structure
that resembles that of a magnetic monopole. Therefore, energy intersection points
play a central role as a source of the gauge field in the space of slow parameters in
the system.
Geometrically, the synthetic gauge connection can be understood in terms of
a natural concept of parallel transport over the eigensubspaces of the slowly
changing Hamiltonian. To see this, let us consider two nearby gn -dimensional
eigensubspaces L (R(s)) and L (R(s +δs)) along C with eigenprojectors P̂n (R(s))
gn
and P̂n (R(s + δs)), respectively. Let Wn (R(s)) = {|ψn;k (R(s)) }k=1 and Wn (R(s +
gn
δs)) = {|ψn;k (R(s + δs)) }k=1 be two frames (ordered bases) spanning the two
subspaces. These frames can be made parallel by minimising the function [8]


gn
D 2 (Wn (s), Wn (s + δs)) =  |ψn;k (R(s)) − |ψn;k (R(s + δs)) 2
k=1
= 2gn − 2ReTrO (Wn (R(s)), Wn (R(s + δs))) (2.37)

over all possible choices of frame pairs. The minimum gives a gauge invariant notion
of distance between the eigensubspaces L (R(s)) and L (R(s + δs)), containing the
Fubini–Study distance [9] as the special case for which gn = 1. The key quantity in
the minimisation procedure is apparently the overlap matrix

Okl (Wn (R(s)), Wn (R(s + δs))) = ψn;k (R(s))|ψn;l (R(s + δs)) (2.38)
2.3 Gauge Structure of Time-Dependent Adiabatic Systems 17

between the two frames. This minimum is found by making the gauge transforma-
tion


gn
n;l (R(s)) =
|ψn;l (R(s)) → |ψ |ψn;j (R(s)) Vj l (R(s)) (2.39)
j =1

such that the corresponding overlap matrix ψ n;l (R(s + δs)) becomes
n;k (R(s))|ψ
positive definite to first order in δs. This yields the connection (rule for parallel
transport)

V̇ (R(s))V † (R(s)) = iAαn (R(s))Ṙα . (2.40)

Thus, the synthetic gauge connection Aαn (R(s)) determines the rule for parallel
transport over the eigensubspaces along the path C in parameter space. The
Wilczek–Zee unitary Un (C ) is thereby the holonomy arising when the system is
parallel transported around a loop.

2.3.2 Adiabatic Evolution of a Tripod

To realise the non-Abelian property of the Wilczek–Zee holonomy, we need a

system with a symmetry-protected degeneracy over the relevant part of parameter
space. As we will discuss in more detail in Sect. 5.4, this can be found in the context
of laser-controlled atomic systems exhibiting a tripod structure that consists of three
‘ground state’ energy levels |g1 , |g2 , |g3 coupled by three laser fields to one and
the same excited state |e , see Fig. 2.2. We illustrate the Wilczek–Zee holonomy
along loops in parameter space of a tripod.
By employing the rotating wave approximation (see Sect. 6.1) in the interaction
picture, we obtain the tripod Hamiltonian

Ĥtripod = δ1 |g1 g1 | + δ2 |g2 g2 | + δ3 |g3 g3 |

+Ω (ω1 |e g1 | + ω2 |e g2 | + ω3 |e g3 | + H.c.) (2.41)

with detunings δj = 2πνj − fj e , νj and fj e being the field frequencies and

energy spacings, respectively, and ωj = ωj (s) being complex-valued parameters
describing the phase and amplitude of the fields. We further assume that j |ωj |2 =
1, which means that Ω measures the overall strength of the system–laser interaction.
We first look for restrictions on the parameters that generate a degenerate pair of
energy eigenstates of the form c1 |g1 + c2 |g2 + c3 |g3 . These are called dark states
as they do not involve the potentially unstable excited state |e . Given this form, the
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 “A photograph?” Pauline said. “No; I don’t think I’ve seen a
photograph.”
“Ah, you wouldn’t have a photograph of me that’s not a good
many years’ old. It was a good deal before your time.”
With her head full of the possibilities of her husband’s past, for
she couldn’t tell that there mightn’t have been another, Pauline said,
with her brave distinctness:
“Are you, perhaps, the person who rang up 4,259 Mayfair? If
you are ...”
The stranger’s rather regal eyes opened slightly. She was
leaning one arm on the chimney-piece and looking over her
shoulder, but at that she turned and held out both her hands.
“Oh, my dear,” she said, “it’s perfectly true what he said. You’re
the bravest woman in the world, and I’m Katya Lascarides.”
With the light full upon her face, Pauline Leicester hardly stirred.
“You’ve heard all about me,” she said, with a touch of sadness in
her voice, “from Robert Grimshaw?”
“No, from Ellida,” Katya answered, “and I’ve seen your
photograph. She carries it about with her.”
Pauline Leicester said, “Ah!” very slowly. And then, “Yes; Ellida’s
very fond of me. She’s very good to me.”
“My dear,” Katya said, “Ellida’s everything in the matter. At any
rate, if I’m going to do you any good, it’s she that’s got me here. I
shouldn’t have done it for Robert Grimshaw.”
Pauline turned slightly pale.
“You haven’t quarrelled with Robert?” she said. “I should be so
sorry.”
“My dear,” Katya answered, “never mention his name to me
again. It’s only for you I’m here, because what Ellida told me has
made me like you;” and then she asked to see the patient.
 Dudley Leicester, got into evening dress as he was by Saunders
and Mr. Held every evening, sat, blond and healthy to all seeming,
sunk in the eternal arm-chair, his fingers beating an eternal tattoo,
his eyes fixed upon vacancy. His appearance was so exactly natural
that it was impossible to believe he was in any “condition” at all. It
was so impossible to believe it that when, with a precision that
seemed to add many years to her age, Katya Lascarides
approached, and, bending over him, touched with the tips of her
fingers little and definite points on his temples and brows, touching
them and retouching them as if she were fingering a rounded wind-
instrument, and that, when she asked: “Doesn’t that make your head
feel better?” it seemed merely normal that his right hand should
come up from the ceaseless drumming on the arm of the chair to
touch her wrist, and that plaintively his voice should say: “Much
better; oh, much better!”
And Pauline and Mr. Held said simultaneously: “He isn’t ...”
“Oh, he isn’t cured,” Katya said. “This is only a part of the
process. It’s to get him to like me, to make him have confidence in
me, so that I can get to know something about him. Now, go away. I
can’t give you any verdict till I’ve studied him.”
 PART V

IN the intervals of running from hotel to hotel—for Robert Grimshaw

had taken it for granted that Ellida was right, and that Katya had
gone either to the old hotel where she had stayed with Mrs. Van
Husum, and where they knew she had left the heavier part of her
belongings—Robert Grimshaw looked in to tell Pauline that he hadn’t
yet been able to fix things up with Katya Lascarides, but that he was
certainly going to do so, and would fetch her along that afternoon. In
himself he felt some doubt of how he was going to find Katya. At the
Norfolk Street hotel he had heard that she had called in for two or
three minutes the night before in order to change her clothes—he
remembered that she was wearing her light grey dress and a linen
sun-hat—and that then she had gone out, saying that she was going
to a patient’s, and might or might not come back.
“This afternoon,” he repeated, “I’ll bring her along.”
Pauline looked at his face attentively.
“Don’t you know where she is?” she said incredulously, and then
she added, as if with a sudden desolation: “Have you quarrelled as
much as all that?”
“How did you know I don’t know where she is?” Grimshaw
answered swiftly. “She hasn’t been attacking you?”
Her little hands fell slowly open at her sides; then she rested
one of them upon the white cloth that was just being laid for lunch.
The horn of an automobile sounded rather gently outside, and
the wheels of a butcher’s cart rattled past.
 “Oh, Robert,” she said suddenly, “it wasn’t about me you
quarrelled? Don’t you understand she’s here in the house now? That
was Sir William Wells who just left.”
“She hasn’t been attacking you?” Grimshaw persisted.
“Oh, she wouldn’t, you know,” Pauline answered. “She isn’t that
sort. It’s you she would attack if she attacked anybody.”
“Oh, well, yes,” Robert Grimshaw answered. “It was about you
we quarrelled—about you and Dudley, about the household: it
occupies too much of my attention. She wants me altogether.”
“Then what’s she here for?” Pauline said.
“I don’t know,” Grimshaw said. “Perhaps because she’s sorry for
you.”
“Sorry for me!” Pauline said, “because I care.... But then she ...
Oh, where do we stand?”
“What has she done?” Robert Grimshaw said. “What does she
say?”
“About you?” Pauline said.
“No, no—about the case?”
“Oh,” Pauline said, “she says that if we can only find out who it
was rang up that number it would be quite likely that we could cure
him.”
Grimshaw suddenly sat down.
“That means ...” he said, and then he stopped.
Pauline said: “What? I couldn’t bear to cause her any
unhappiness.”
“Oh,” Robert Grimshaw answered, “is that the way to talk in our
day and—and—and our class? We don’t take things like that.”
“Oh, my dear,” she said painfully, “how are we taking this?” Then
she added: “And in any case Katya isn’t of our day or our class.”
She came near, and stood over him, looking down.
 “Robert,” she said gravely, “who is of our day and our class? Are
you? Or am I? Why are your hands shaking like that, or why did I just
now call you ‘my dear’? We’ve got to face the fact that I called you
‘my dear.’ Then, don’t you see, you can’t be of our day and our class.
And as for me, wasn’t it really because Dudley wasn’t faithful to me
that I’ve let myself slide near you? I haven’t made a scandal or any
outcry about Dudley Leicester. That’s our day and that’s our class.
But look at all the difference it’s made in our personal relations! Look
at the misery of it all! That’s it. We can make a day and a class and
rules for them, but we can’t keep any of the rules except just the
gross ones like not making scandals.”
“Then, what Katya’s here for,” Robert Grimshaw said, “is to cure
Dudley. She’s a most wonderful sense, and she knows that the only
way to have me altogether is to cure him.”
“Oh, don’t put it as low down as that,” Pauline said. “Just a little
time ago you said that it was because she was sorry for me.”
“Yes, yes,” Grimshaw answered eagerly; “that’s it; that’s the
motive. But it doesn’t hinder the result from being that, when
Dudley’s cured, we all fly as far apart as the poles.”
“Ah,” she said slowly, and she looked at him with the straight,
remorseless glance and spoke with the little, cold expressionless
voice that made him think of her for the rest of his life as if she were
the unpitying angel that barred for our first parents the return into
Eden, “you see that at least! That is where we all are—flying as far
apart as the poles.”
Grimshaw suddenly extended both his hands in a gesture of
mute agony, but she drew back both her own.
“That again,” she said, “is our day and our class. And that’s the
best that’s to be said for us. We haven’t learned wisdom: we’ve only
learned how to behave. We cannot avoid tragedies.”
She paused and repeated with a deeper note of passion than he
had ever heard her allow herself:
“Tragedies! Yes, in our day and in our class we don’t allow
ourselves easy things like daggers and poison-bowls. It’s all more
difficult. It’s all more difficult because it goes on and goes on. We
think we’ve made it easier because we’ve slackened old ties. You’re
in and out of the house all day long, and I can go around with you
everywhere. But just because we’ve slackened the old ties, just
because marriage is a weaker thing than it used to be—in our day
and in our class”—she repeated the words with deep bitterness and
looked unflinchingly into his eyes—“we’ve strengthened so
immensely the other kind of ties. If you’d been married to Miss
Lascarides you’d probably not have been faithful to her. As it is, just
because your honour’s involved you find yourself tied to her as no
monk ever was by his vow.”
She looked down at her feet and then again at his eyes, and in
her glance there was a cold stream of accusation that appeared
incredible, coming from a creature so small, so fragile, and so
reserved. Grimshaw stood with his head hanging forward upon his
chest: the scene seemed to move with an intolerable slowness, and
to him her attitude of detachment was unspeakably sad. It was as if
she spoke from a great distance—as if she were a ghost fading
away into dimness. He could not again raise his hands towards her:
he could utter no endearments: her gesture of abnegation had been
too absolute and too determined. With her eyes full upon him she
said:
“You do not love Katya Lascarides: you are as cold to her as a
stone. You love me, and you have ruined all our lives. But it doesn’t
end, it goes on. We fly as far asunder as the poles, and it goes on for
good.”
She stopped as suddenly as she had begun to speak, and what
she had said was so true, and the sudden revelation of what burned
beneath the surface of a creature so small and apparently so cold—
the touch of fierce hunger in her voice, of pained resentment in her
eyes—these things so overwhelmed Robert Grimshaw that for a long
time, still he remained silent. Then suddenly he said:
“Yes; by God, it’s true what you say! I told Ellida long ago that
my business in life was to wait for Katya and to see that you had a
good time.” He paused, and then added quickly: “I’ve lived to see
you in hell, and I’ve waited for Katya till”—he moved one of his
hands in a gesture of despair—“till all the fire’s burned out,” he
added suddenly.
“So that now,” she retorted with a little bitter humour, “what
you’ve got to do is to give Katya a good time and go on waiting for
me.”
“Till when?” he said with a sudden hot eagerness.
“Oh,” she said, “till all the ships that ever sailed come home; till
all the wild-oats that were ever sown are reaped; till the sun sets in
the east and the ice on the poles is all melted away. If you were the
only man in all the world, my dear, I would never look at you again.”
Grimshaw looked at the ground and muttered aimlessly:
“What’s to be done? What’s to be done?”
He went on repeating this like a man stupified beyond the power
of speech and thought, until at last it was as if a minute change of
light passed across the figure of Pauline Leicester—as if the
softness faded out of her face, her colour and her voice, as if, having
for that short interval revealed the depths of her being, she had
closed in again, finally and irrevocably. So that it was with a sort of
ironic and business-like crispness that she said:
“All that’s to be done is the one thing that you’ve got to do.”
“And that?” Robert Grimshaw asked.
“That is to find the man who rang up that number. You’ve got to
do that because you know all about these things.”
“I?” Robert Grimshaw said desolately. “Oh yes, I know all about
these things.”
“You know,” Pauline continued, “she’s very forcible, your Katya.
You should have seen how she spoke to Sir William Wells, until at
last he positively roared with fury, and yet she hadn’t said a single
word except, in the most respectful manner in the world, ‘Wouldn’t it
have been best the very first to discover who the man on the
telephone was?”
 “How did she know about the man on the telephone?” Grimshaw
said. “You didn’t. Sir William told me not to tell you.”
“Oh, Sir William!” she said, with the first contempt that he had
ever heard in her voice. “He didn’t want anybody to know anything.
And when Katya told him that over there they always attempt to cure
a shock of that sort by a shock almost exactly similar, he simply
roared out: ‘Theories! theories! theories!’ That was his motor that
went just now.”
They were both silent for a long time, and then suddenly Robert
Grimshaw said:
“It was I that rang up 4,259 Mayfair.”
Pauline only answered: “Ah!”

And looking straight at the carpet in front of him, Robert

Grimshaw remembered the March night that had ever since weighed
so heavily on them all. He had dined alone at his club. He had sat
talking to three elderly men, and, following his custom, at a quarter
past eleven he had set out to walk up Piccadilly and round the acute
angle of Regent Street. Usually he walked down Oxford Street, down
Park Lane; and so, having taken his breath of air and
circumnavigated, as it were, the little island of wealth that those four
streets encompass, he would lay himself tranquilly in his white bed,
and with Peter on a chair beside his feet, he would fall asleep. But
on that night, whilst he walked slowly, his stick behind his back, he
had been almost thrown down by Etta Stackpole, who appeared to
fall right under his feet, and she was followed by the tall form of
Dudley Leicester, whose face Grimshaw recognized as he looked up
to pay the cabman. Having, as one does on the occasion of such
encounters, with a military precision and an extreme swiftness
turned on his heels—having turned indeed so swiftly that his stick,
which was behind his back, swung out centrifugally and lightly struck
Etta Stackpole’s skirt, he proceeded to walk home in a direction the
reverse of his ordinary one. And at first he thought absolutely nothing
at all. The night was cold and brilliant, and he peeped, as was his
wont, curiously and swiftly into the faces of the passers-by. Just
about abreast of Burlington House he ejaculated: “That sly cat!” as if
he were lost in surprised admiration for Dudley Leicester’s
enterprise. But opposite the Ritz he began to shiver. “I must have
taken a chill,” he said, but actually there had come into his mind the
thought—the thought that Etta Stackpole afterwards so furiously
upbraided him for—that Dudley Leicester must have been carrying
on a long intrigue with Etta Stackpole. “And I’ve married Pauline to
that scoundrel!” he muttered, for it seemed to him that Dudley
Leicester must have been a scoundrel, if he could so play fast and
loose, if he could do it so skilfully as to take in himself, whilst
appearing so open about it.
And then Grimshaw shrugged his shoulders: “Well, it’s no
business of mine,” he said.
He quickened his pace, and walked home to bed; but he was
utterly unable to sleep.
Lying in his white bed, the sheets up to his chin, his face dark in
the blaze of light, from above his head—the only dark object, indeed,
in a room that was all monastically white—his tongue was so dry that
he was unable to moisten his lips with it. He lay perfectly still, gazing
at Peter’s silver collar that, taken off for the night, hung from the
hook on the back of the white door. His lips muttered fragments of
words with which his mind had nothing to do. They bubbled up from
within him as if from the depths of his soul, and at that moment
Robert Grimshaw knew himself. He was revealed to himself for the
first time by words over which he had no control. In this agony and
this prickly sweat the traditions—traditions that are so infectious—of
his English public-school training, of his all-smooth and suppressed
contacts in English social life, all the easy amenities and all the facile
sense of honour that is adapted only to the life of no strain, of no
passions; all these habits Were gone at this touch of torture. And it
was of this intolerably long anguish that he had been thinking when
he had said to Etta Stackpole that in actual truth he was only a
Dago. For Robert Grimshaw, if he was a man of many knowledges,
was a man of no experiences at all, since his connection with Katya
Lascarides, her refusal of him, her shudderings at him, had been so
out of the ordinary nature of things that he couldn’t make any
generalizations from them at all. When he had practically forced
Dudley Leicester upon Pauline, he really had believed that you can
marry a woman you love to your best friend without enduring all the
tortures of jealousy. This sort of marriage of convenience that it was,
was, he knew, the sort of thing that in their sort of life was frequent
and successful enough, and having been trained in the English code
of manners never to express any emotion at all, he had forgotten
that he possessed emotions. Now he was up against it.
He was frightfully up against it. Till now, at least, he had been
able to imagine that Dudley Leicester had at least a devouring
passion for, a quenchless thirst to protect, his wife. It had been a
passion so great and commencing so early that Grimshaw could
claim really only half the credit of having made the match. Indeed,
his efforts had been limited to such influence as he had been able to
bring to bear upon Pauline’s mother, to rather long conversations in
which he had pointed out how precarious, Mrs. Lucas being dead,
would be Pauline’s lot in life. And he had told her at last that he
himself was irretrievably pledged, both by honour and by passion, to
Katya Lascarides. It was on the subsequent day that Pauline had
accepted her dogged adorer.
His passion for Katya Lascarides! He hadn’t till that moment had
any doubt about it. But by then he knew it was gone; it was dead,
and in place of a passion he felt only remorse. And his longing to be
perpetually with Pauline Leicester—as he had told Ellida Langham—
to watch her going through all her life with her perpetual tender
smile, dancing, as it were, a gentle and infantile measure; this, too,
he couldn’t doubt. Acute waves of emotion went through him at the
thought of her—waves of emotion so acute that they communicated
themselves to his physical being, so that it was as if the thought of
Katya Lascarides stabbed his heart, whilst the thought of Pauline
Leicester made his hands toss beneath the sheets. For, looking at
the matter formally, and, as he thought, dispassionately, it had
seemed to him that his plain duty was to wait for Katya Lascarides,
and to give Pauline as good a time as he could. That Pauline would
have this with Dudley Leicester he hadn’t had till the moment of the
meeting in Regent Street the ghost of a doubt, but now ...
 He said: “Good God!” for he was thinking that only the Deity—if
even He—could achieve the impossible, could undo what was done,
could let him watch over Pauline, which was the extent of the
possession of her that he thought he desired, and wait for Katya,
which also was, perhaps, all that he had ever desired to do. The
intolerable hours ticked on. The light shone down on him beside the
bed. At the foot Peter slept, coiled up and motionless. At the head
the telephone instrument, like a gleaming metal flower, with its nickel
corolla and black bell, shone with reflected light. He was accustomed
on mornings when he felt he needed a rest to talk to his friends from
time to time, and suddenly his whole body stirred in bed. The whites
of his eyes gleamed below the dark irises, his white teeth showed,
and as he clasped the instrument to him he appeared, as it were, a
Shylock who clutched to his breast his knife and demanded of the
universe his right to the peace of mind that knowledge at least was
to give him.
He must know; if he was to defend Pauline, to watch over her, to
brood over her, to protect her, he must know what was going on.
This passionate desire swept over him like a flood. There remained
nothing else in the world. He rang up the hotel which, tall, white, and
cold, rises close by where he had seen Etta Stackpole spring from
the cab. He rang up several houses known to him, and, finally, with a
sort of panic in his eyes he asked for Lady Hudson’s number. The
little dog, aroused by his motions and his voice, leapt on to the bed,
and pattering up, gazed wistfully at his face. He reached out his
tongue to afford what consolation he could to the master, whom he
knew to be perturbed, grieved, and in need of consolation, and just
before the tinny sound of a voice reached Grimshaw’s ears
Grimshaw said, his lips close to the mouthpiece, “Get down.” And
when, after he had uttered the words, “Isn’t that Dudley Leicester
speaking?” there was the click of the instrument being rung off,
Robert Grimshaw said to himself grimly, “At any rate, they’ll know
who it was that rung them up.”
But Dudley Leicester hadn’t known; he was too stupid, and the
tinny sound of the instrument had destroyed the resemblance of any
human voice.
 Thus, sitting before Pauline Leicester in her drawing-room, did
Robert Grimshaw review his impressions. And, looking back on the
whole affair, it seemed to present himself to him in those terms of
strong light, of the unreal sound of voices on the telephone, and of
pain, of unceasing pain that had never “let up” at any rate from the
moment when, having come up from the country with Katya’s kisses
still upon his lips, he had found Pauline in his dining-room, and had
heard that Dudley Leicester didn’t know.
He remained seated, staring, brooding at the carpet just before
Pauline’s feet, and suddenly she said: “Oh, Robert, what did you do
it for?”
He rose up suddenly and stood over her, and when he held both
her small hands between his own, “You’d better,” he said—“it’ll be
better for both you and me—put upon it the construction that shows
the deepest concern for you.”
And suddenly from behind their backs came the voice of Katya
Lascarides.
“Well,” she said, “Robert knows everything. Who is the man that
rang up 4,259 Mayfair?”
Robert Grimshaw hung his head for a moment, and then:
“I did,” he said.
Katya only answered, “Ah!” Then, very slowly, she came over
and put one hand on Pauline’s shoulder. “Oh, you poor dear,” she
exclaimed, and then to Robert: “Then you’d better come and tell him
so. I’ll stake my new hat to my professional reputation that it’ll put
him on to his legs at once.”
And with an air of taking him finally under her wing, she
conducted him down the passage to Dudley Leicester’s room.

In the dining-room Pauline stood for a long time looking down at

her fingers that rested upon the tablecloth. The air was full of little
noises—the clitter of milk-cans, the monotonous sound of water
pulsing continuously from the mains, the voices of two nurses as
they wheeled their charges home from the Park. The door-bell rang,
but no one disturbed her. With the light falling on her hair, absolutely
motionless, she looked down at her fingers on the white cloth and
smiled faintly.

II

IN the long, dark room where Dudley Leicester still sprawled in his
deep chair, Katya stopped Robert Grimshaw near the door.
“I’ll ask him to ask you his question,” she said, “and you’ll
answer it in as loud a voice as you can. That’ll cure him. You’ll see. I
don’t suppose you expected to see me here.”
“I didn’t expect it,” he answered, “but I know why you have
come.”
“Well,” she said, “if he isn’t cured, you’ll be hanging round him
for ever.”
“Yes, I suppose I shall be hanging round him for ever,” he
answered.
“And more than that, you’ll be worrying yourself to death over it.
I can’t bear you to worry, Toto,” she said. She paused for a long
minute and then she scrutinized him closely.
“So it was you who rang him up on the telephone?” she said. “I
thought it was, from the beginning.”
“Oh, don’t let’s talk about that any more,” Grimshaw said; “I’m
very tired; I’m very lonely. I’ve discovered that there are things one
can’t do—that I’m not the man I thought I was. It’s you who are
strong and get what you want, and I’m only a meddler who muddles
and spoils. That’s the moral of the whole thing. Take me on your own
terms and make what you can of me. I am too lonely to go on alone
any more. I’ve come to give myself up. I went down to Brighton to
give myself up to you on condition that you cured Dudley Leicester.
Now I just do it without any conditions whatever.”
 She looked at him a little ironically, a little tenderly.
“Oh, well, my dear,” she said, “we’ll talk about that when he’s
cured. Now come.”
She made him stand just before Leicester’s sprawled-out feet,
and going round behind the chair, resting her hands already on
Leicester’s hair in preparation for bending down to make, near his
ear, the suggestion that he should put his question, she looked up at
Robert Grimshaw.
“You consent,” she said, with hardly a touch of triumph in her
voice, “that I should live with you as my mother lived with my father?”
And at Robert Grimshaw’s minute gesture of assent: “Oh, well, my
dear,” she continued quite gently, “it’s obvious to me that you’re more
than touched by this little Pauline of ours. I don’t say that I resent it. I
don’t suggest that it makes you care for me any less than you should
or did, but I’m sure, perfectly sure, of the fact such as it is, and I’m
sure, still more sure, that she cares extremely for you. So that ...”
She had been looking down at Dudley Leicester’s forehead, but she
looked up again into Robert Grimshaw’s eyes. “I think, my dear,” she
said slowly, “as a precaution, I think you cannot have me on those
terms; I think you had better”—she paused for the fraction of a
minute—“marry me,” and her fingers began to work slowly upon
Dudley Leicester’s brows. There was the least flush upon her
cheeks, the least smile round the corners of her lips, she heaved the
ghost of a sigh.
“So that you get me both ways,” Robert Grimshaw said; and his
hands fell desolately open at his side.
“Every way and altogether,” she answered.
 EPISTOLARY EPILOGUE

“IT was a summer evening four years later when, upon the sands of
one of our most fashionable watering-places, a happy family group,
consisting of a buxom mother and several charming children, might
have been observed to disport itself. Who can this charming matron
be, and who these lovely children, designated respectively Robert,
Dudley, Katya, and Ellida?
“And who is this tall and robust gentleman who, wearing across
the chest of his white cricketing flannel the broad blue ribbon of His
Majesty’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, bearing in one hand
negligently the Times of the day before yesterday and in the other a
pastoral rake, approaches from the hayfields, and, with an indulgent
smile, surveys the happy group? Taking from his mouth his pipe—for
in the dolce far niente of his summer vacation, when not called upon
by his duties near the Sovereign at Windsor, he permits himself the
relaxation of the soothing weed—he remarks:
“‘The Opposition fellows have lost the by-election at Camber.’
“Oblivious of his pipe, the charming matron casts herself upon
his neck, whilst the children dance round him with cries of
congratulation, and the trim nurses stand holding buckets and
spades with expressions of respectful happiness upon their
countenances. Who can this be?
“And who, again, are these two approaching along the sands
with happy and contented faces—the gentleman erect, olive-
skinned, and, since his wife has persuaded him to go clean-shaven,
appearing ten years younger than when we last saw him; the lady
dark and tall, with the first signs of matronly plumpness just
appearing upon her svelte form? They approach and hold out their
hands to the happy Cabinet Minister with attitudes respectively of
manly and ladylike congratulation, whilst little Robert and little Katya,
uttering joyful cries of ‘Godmama’ and ‘Godpapa!’ dive into their
pockets for chocolates and the other presents that they are
accustomed to find there.
“Who can these be? Our friend the reader will have already
guessed. And so, with a moisture at the contemplation of so much
happiness bedewing our eyes, we lay down the pen, pack up the
marionettes into their box, ring down the curtain, and return to our
happy homes, where the wives of our bosoms await us. That we
may meet again, dear reader, is the humble and pious wish of your
attached friend, the writer of these pages.”

Thus, my dear ——, you would have me end this book, after I
have taken an infinite trouble to end it otherwise. No doubt, also, you
would have me record how Etta Hudson, as would be inevitably the
case with such a character, eventually became converted to Roman
Catholicism, and ended her days under the direction of a fanatical
confessor in the practice of acts of the most severe piety and
mortification, Jervis, the butler of Mr. Dudley Leicester, you would
like to be told, remained a humble and attached dependent in the
service of his master; whilst Saunders, Mr. Grimshaw’s man, thinking
himself unable to cope with the duties of the large establishment in
Berkeley Square which Mr. Grimshaw and Katya set up upon their
marriage, now keeps a rose-clad hostelry on the road to Brighton.
But we have forgotten Mr. Held! Under the gentle teaching of Pauline
Leicester he became an aspirant for Orders in the Church of
England, and is now, owing to the powerful influence of Mr. Dudley
Leicester, chaplain to the British Embassy at St. Petersburg.
But since, my dear ——, all these things appear to me to be
sufficiently indicated in the book as I have written it, I must confess
that these additions, inspired as they are by you—but how much
better they would have been had you actually written them! these
additions appear to me to be ugly, superfluous, and disagreeable.
The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, and you,
together with the great majority of British readers, insist upon having
a happy ending, or, if not a happy ending, at least some sort of an
ending. This is a desire, like the desire for gin-and-water or any other
comforting stimulant, against which I have nothing to say. You go to
books to be taken out of yourself, I to be shown where I stand. For
me, as for you, a book must have a beginning and an end. But
whereas for you the end is something arbitrarily final, such as the
ring of wedding-bells, a funeral service, or the taking of a public-
house, for me—since to me a novel is the history of an “affair”—
finality is only found at what seems to me to be the end of that
“affair.” There is in life nothing final. So that even “affairs” never really
have an end as far as the lives of the actors are concerned. Thus,
although Dudley Leicester was, as I have tried to indicate, cured
almost immediately by the methods of Katya Lascarides, it would be
absurd to imagine that the effects of his short breakdown would not
influence the whole of his after-life. These effects may have been to
make him more conscientious, more tender, more dogged, less self-
centred; may have been to accentuate him in a great number of
directions. For no force is ever lost, and the ripple raised by a stone,
striking upon the bank of a pool, goes on communicating its force for
ever and ever throughout space and throughout eternity. But for our
vision its particular “affair” ends when, striking the bank, it
disappears. So for me the “affair” of Dudley Leicester’s madness
ended at the moment when Katya Lascarides laid her hands upon
his temple. In the next moment he would be sane, the ripple of
madness would have disappeared from the pond of his life. To have
gone on farther would have been, not to have ended this book, but to
have begun another, which—the fates being good—I hope to write. I
shall profit, without doubt, by your companionship, instruction, and
great experience. You have called me again and again an
Impressionist, and this I have been called so often that I suppose it
must be the fact. Not that I know what an Impressionist is.
Personally, I use as few words as I may to get any given effect, to
render any given conversation. You, I presume, do the same. You
don’t, I mean, purposely put in more words than you need—more
words, that is to say, than seem to you to satisfy your desire for
expression. You would probably render a conversation thus:
“Extending her hand, which was enveloped in creamy tulle, Mrs.
Sincue exclaimed, ‘Have another cup of tea, dear?’ ‘Thanks—two
lumps,’ her visitor rejoined. ‘So I hear Colonel Hapgood has eloped
with his wife’s French maid!’”
I should probably set it down:
“After a little desultory conversation, Mrs. Sincue’s visitor,
dropping his dark eyes to the ground, uttered in a voice that betrayed
neither exultation nor grief, ‘Poor old Hapgood’s cut it with Nanette.
Don’t you remember Nanette, who wore an apron with lace all round
it and those pocket things, and curled hair?’”
This latter rendering, I suppose, is more vague in places, and in
other places more accentuated, but I don’t see how it is more
impressionist. It is perfectly true you complain of me that I have not
made it plain with whom Mr. Robert Grimshaw was really in love, or
that when he resigned himself to the clutches of Katya Lascarides,
whom personally I extremely dislike, an amiable but meddlesome
and inwardly conceited fool was, pathetically or even tragically,
reaping the harvest of his folly. I omitted to add these comments,
because I think that for a writer to intrude himself between his
characters and his reader is to destroy to that extent all the illusion of
his work. But when I found that yourself and all the moderately quick-
minded, moderately sane persons who had read the book in its
original form failed entirely to appreciate what to me has appeared
as plain as a pikestaff—namely, that Mr. Grimshaw was extremely in
love with Pauline Leicester, and that, in the first place, by marrying
her to Dudley Leicester, and, in the second place, by succumbing to
a disagreeable personality, he was committing the final folly of this
particular affair—when I realized that these things were not plain, I
hastened to add those passages of explicit conversation, those
droppings of the eyelids and tragic motions of the hands, that you
have since been good enough to say have made the book.
Heaven knows, one tries enormously hard to be simple, to be
even transparently simple, but one falls so lamentably between two
stools. Thus, another reader, whom I had believed to be a person of
some intellect, has insisted to me that in calling this story “A Call” I
must have had in my mind something mysterious, something
mystical; but what I meant was that Mr. Robert Grimshaw, putting the
ear-piece to his ear and the mouthpiece to his mouth, exclaimed,
after the decent interval that so late at night the gentleman in charge
of the exchange needs for awaking from slumber and grunting
something intelligible—Mr. Grimshaw exclaimed, “Give me 4259
Mayfair.” This might mean that Lady Hudson was a subscriber to the
Post Office telephone system, but it does not mean in the least that
Mr. Grimshaw felt religious stirrings within him or “A Call” to do
something heroic and chivalrous, such as aiding women to obtain
the vote.
So that between those two classes of readers—the one who
insist upon reading into two words the whole psychology of moral
revivalism, and the others who, without gaining even a glimpse of
meaning, will read or skip through fifty or sixty thousand words, each
one of which is carefully selected to help on a singularly plain tale—
between these two classes of readers your poor Impressionist falls
lamentably enough to the ground. He sought to point no moral. His
soul would have recoiled within him at the thought of adorning by
one single superfluous word his plain tale. His sole ambition was to
render a little episode—a small “affair” affecting a little circle of
people—exactly as it would have happened. He desired neither to
comment nor to explain. Yet here, commenting and explaining, he
takes his humble leave, having packed the marionettes into the
case, having pulled the curtain down, and wiping from his troubled
eyes the sensitive drops of emotion. This may appear to be an end,
but it isn’t. He is, still, your Impressionist, thinking what the devil—
what the very devil—he shall do to make his next story plain to the
most mediocre intelligence!

THE END
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