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arXiv:1912.09030 · Physical Review A

Spectral collapse in the two-photon quantum Rabi model

Román J. Armenta‐Rico, F. H. Maldonado-Villamizar, B. M. Rodríguez-Lara

Published Jun 18, 2020• 44 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Spectral collapse, the transition from a discrete to a continuous spectrum, is a characteristic in quantum Rabi models. We explore this phenomenon in the two-photon quantum Rabi model using optical phase space, and we find that, in the so-called degenerate qubit regime, the collapse is similar to the transition from a harmonic to an inverted oscillator with the free-particle potential as a critical transition point. In the degenerate qubit regime, we construct Dirac-normalizable eigenfunctions with well-defined parity for the model. In the general model, we use parity to diagonalize the system in the qubit basis and numerically find that the qubit frequency does not change the critical point where spectral collapse occurs. We numerically confirm the existence of an exceptional state at the critical coupling, and we argue its analytic provenance from both a Born-Oppenheimer and a variational approximation.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.101.063825

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Spectral collapse, the transition from a discrete to a continuous spectrum, is a characteristic in quantum Rabi models. We explore this phenomenon in the two-photon quantum Rabi model using optical phase space, and we find that, in the so-called degenerate qubit regime, the collapse is similar to the transition from a harmonic to an inverted oscillator with the free-particle potential as a critical transition point. In the degenerate qubit regime, we construct Dirac-normalizable eigenfunctions with well-defined parity for the model. In the general model, we use parity to diagonalize the system in the qubit basis and numerically find that the qubit frequency does not change the critical point where spectral collapse occurs. We numerically confirm the existence of an exceptional state at the critical coupling, and we argue its analytic provenance from both a Born-Oppenheimer and a variational approximation.
Abstract The two-photon quantum Rabi model is analyzed using the Z 4 -symmetry and su ( 1 , 1 ) -algebra. We derive the G -function whose zeros give the exact eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian. The singularity structure of the G -function allows to draw conclusions about the distribution of these eigenvalues along the real axis and we derive the spectral collapse phenomenon at critical coupling g c , found numerically before. The spectrum at g c consists of a discrete and a continuous part: the ground state is always separated from the continuum by a finite excitation gap, ruling out a quantum phase transition in the usual sense. For large qubit splitting, also other low lying states split off from the continuum. However, perturbation theory predicts the vanishing of the gap to all orders, demonstrating its non-perturbative nature. We corroborate this result with a variational calculation for the ground state.
The anisotropic two-photon quantum Rabi model is studied using the Bogoliubov operator approach. Doubly degenerate exceptional states are identified using analytical methods. By adjusting the position of the last exceptional point belonging to two adjacent energy levels, we derive a condition for the absence of the discrete spectrum at the critical coupling where ``spectral collapse'' occurs. In this special case, the spectrum becomes fully continuous above a threshold energy, with no bound states existing, whereas the ground state remains gapped in the general case. More interestingly, we rigorously find that a finite number of bound states exist between two anisotropy-dependent critical atomic frequencies, with infinitely many bound states beyond this frequency regime. In this manner, all issues in the two-photon quantum Rabi model are resolved.
Spectral collapse in the two-photon quantum Rabi model (tpQRM) has long been regarded as insufficient to establish quantum criticality because, under generic conditions, the lowest excitation gap remains finite. We show that, at a special qubit frequency, spectral collapse in the anisotropic tpQRM constitutes a continuous quantum phase transition governed by a single soft mode. The same-parity gap, set by the vanishing effective oscillator frequency, closes with exponent zν=1/2zν= 1/2zν=1/2, whereas the lower different-parity gap arises from symmetry-induced splitting. Parity symmetry excludes the different-parity excitation from the quantum Fisher information response and restricts Kibble-Zurek dynamics to excitations within the ground-state parity sector. Together, these results identify the same-parity excitation as the soft mode and its gap as the characteristic energy scale. The corresponding critical exponents, ν=1/4ν=1/4ν=1/4 and z=2z=2z=2, place the anisotropic tpQRM in the same universality class as the standard QRM. Our results establish spectral collapse as a potential route to experimentally accessible quantum criticality in a few-body system and show that universality is determined by the soft-mode structure rather than by the closing of the lowest excitation gap.
We have shown that the smallest possible singel-qubit critical coupling strength of the N-qubit two-photon Rabi model is only 1/N times that of the two-photon Rabi model. The spectral collapse can thus occur at a more attainable value of the critical coupling. For both of the two-qubit and three-qubit cases, we have also rigorously demonstrated that at the critical coupling the system not only has a set of discrete eigenenergies but also a continuous energy spectrum. The discrete eigenenergy spectrum can be derived via a simple one-to-one mapping to the bound state problem of a particle of variable effective mass in the presence of a finite potential well and a nonlocal potential. The energy difference of each qubit, which specifies both the depth of the finite potential well and the strength of the nonlocal potential, determines the number of bound states available, implying that the extent of the incomplete spectral collapse can be monitored in a straightforward manner.
ABSTRACT We investigate the spectral properties and quantum criticality of the two‐photon Rabi–Stark model. Using the exact solution of this model, we rigorously derive a condition for complete spectral collapse, where all bound states vanish. In this case, the energy gap closes at a critical coupling, signaling a continuous quantum phase transition. The corresponding gap exponent differs from those in both the one‐photon Rabi–Stark model and the quantum Rabi model, suggesting a distinct universality class. While in the general case, an infinite number of discrete bound states exist when spectral collapse occurs and the energy gap remains open. By mapping to an inverse square potential well, these bound levels approach the threshold energy exponentially. Our results offer new insights into novel spectral phenomena in nonlinear quantum Rabi models, with potential implications for experimental realizations in circuit quantum electrodynamics and trapped ion systems.
The Rabi–Stark model is a nonlinear generalization of the quantum Rabi model including the dynamical Stark shift as a tunable term, which can be realized via quantum simulation on a cavity QED platform. When the Stark coupling becomes equal to the mode frequency, the spectrum changes drastically, a transition usually termed “spectral collapse” because numerical studies indicate an infinitely degenerate ground state. We show that the spectrum extends continuously from a threshold value up to infinity. A set of normalizable states is embedded in the continuum, which furnishes an unexpected analogy to the atomic Stark effect. Bound states and continuum can be obtained analytically through two equally justified but different confluence processes of the associated differential equation in Bargmann space. Moreover, these results are obtained independently using a method based on adiabatic elimination of the spin degree of freedom and corroborated through large-scale numerical checks.