We study the $S$ matrix for the transitions at an avoided crossing of several energy levels, which is a multilevel generalization of the Landau-Zener problem. We demonstrate that, by extending the Schrödinger evolution to complex time, one can obtain an exact answer for some of the transition amplitudes. Similar to the Landau-Zener case, our result covers both the adiabatic (slow evolution) and the diabatic (fast evolution) regimes. The form of the exact transition amplitude coincides with that obtained in a sequential pairwise level crossing approximation, in accord with the conjecture of Brundobler and Elser [J. Phys. A 26, 1211 (1993)].

• Received 7 July 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.70.052708