Nonadiabatic effects in the dynamics of atoms confined in a cylindric time-orbiting-potential magnetic trap

In a time-orbiting-potential magnetic trap the neutral atoms are confined by means of an inhomogeneous magnetic field superimposed onto an uniform rotating one. We perform an analytic study of the atomic motion by taking into account the nonadiabatic effects arising from the spin dynamics about the local magnetic field. Geometric like magnetic fields determined by Berry’s phase appear within the quantum description. Application of the time-dependent variational principle on the original quantum equation leads to a set of dynamical evolution equations for the quantum average value of the position operator and spin variables. Within this approximation we derive the quantum-mechanical ground-state configuration matching the classical adiabatic solution and perform some numerical simulations.