We formulate and approximately solve a specific many body generalization of the Landau-Zener problem. Unlike with the single particle Landau-Zener problem, our system does not abide in the adiabatic ground state, even at very slow driving rates. The structure of the theory suggests that this finding reflects a more general phenomenon in the physics of adiabatically driven many particle systems. Our solution can be used to understand, for example, the behavior of two-level systems coupled to an electromagnetic field, as realized in cavity QED experiments.

• Received 18 September 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.063602