  We analyze the crossing of a quantum critical point based on exact results
for the transverse XY model. In dependence of the change rate of the driving
field, the evolution of the ground state is studied while the transverse
magnetic field is tuned through the critical point with a linear ramping. The
excitation probability is obtained exactly and is compared to previous studies
and to the Landau-Zener formula, a long time solution for non-adiabatic
transitions in two-level systems. The exact time dependence of the excitations
density in the system allows to identify the adiabatic and diabatic regions
during the sweep and to study the mesoscopic fluctuations of the excitations.
The effect of white noise is investigated, where the critical point transmutes
into a non-hermitian ``degenerate region''. Besides an overall increase of the
excitations during and at the end of the sweep, the most destructive effect of
the noise is the decay of the state purity that is enhanced by the passage
through the degenerate region.
