Shannon entropy as an indicator of atomic avoided crossings in strong parallel magnetic and electric fields.

Avoided crossings are the most distinctive atomic spectroscopic features in the presence of magnetic and electric fields. We point out the role of Shannon's information entropy as an indicator or predictor of these phenomena by studying the dynamics of some excited states of hydrogen in the presence of parallel magnetic and electric fields. Moreover, in addition to the well-known energy level repulsion, it is found that Shannon's entropy manifests the informational exchange of the involved states as the magnetic field strength is varied across the narrow region where an avoided crossing occurs.