Uniform Airy Approximation for Nonadiabatic Transitions in a Curve-Crossing Weak-Coupling Case

Abstract

Abstract This work suggests a connection between Landau-Zener transition probabilities between two crossing potentials in the classically accessible WKB regime and Landau-Lifshitz transition probabilities in the classically inaccessible WKB regime. It is based on the uniform Airy (UAi) approximation which represents a generalization of quantum transition probabilities for linear crossing potentials with constant coupling. The performance of the UAi approximation is tested by comparison with distorted-wave probabilities for an exponential potential model and illustrated for potentials that determine the intersection of two ab initio vibronic potential surfaces of the NO-Ar system.