We present a systematic construction of effective Hamiltonians of periodically driven quantum systems. Because of an equivalence between the time dependence of a Hamiltonian and an interaction in its Floquet operator, flow equations, that permit us to decouple interacting quantum systems, allow us to identify time-independent Hamiltonians for driven systems. With this approach, we explain the experimentally observed deviation of expected suppression of tunneling in ultracold atoms.

• Received 12 April 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.175301