The adiabatic analogue of the Margolus–Levitin theorem

Abstract

In this letter we derive the minimum time needed for any state of a given quantum system to evolve adiabatically into a distinct (orthogonal) state. This problem is relevant to deriving physical limits in quantum computation and quantum information processing. Our result represents an adiabatic analogue to the Margolus–Levitin theorem (Margolus and Levitin 1998 Physica D 120, 188).