Abstract Using a dissipative quantum Rabi model, we study the dynamics of a slow qubit coupled to a fast quantum harmonic oscillator interacting with a bosonic bath from weak to strong and ultra-strong coupling regimes. Solving the quantum Heisenberg equations of motion, perturbative in the internal coupling between qubit and oscillator, we derive functional relationships directly linking the qubit coordinates in the Bloch sphere to oscillator observables. We then perform accurate time-dependent Matrix Product State simulations and compare our results both with the analytical solutions of the Heisenberg equations of motion, and with numerical solutions of a Lindblad master equation, perturbative in the external coupling between oscillator and environment. Indeed, we show that, up to the strong coupling regime, the qubit state accurately fulfils the derived functional relationships. We analyse in detail the case of a qubit starting with generic coordinates on the Bloch sphere of which we evaluate the three components of the Bloch vector through the averages of oscillator observables. Interestingly, a weak to intermediate oscillator coupling to the bath is able to simplify the Bloch vector evaluation since qubit-oscillator relationships are more immediate. Moreover, by monitoring the qubit fidelity with respect to free limit, we find the parameter regime where the combined effect of internal and external couplings is able to hinder the reliable evaluation of the qubit Bloch vector. Finally, in the ultra-strong coupling regime, non-Markovian effects become robust and the dynamics of qubit and oscillator are inextricably entangled making the qubit Bloch vector evaluation difficult. Graphical Abstract
Abstract Using a dissipative quantum Rabi model, we study the dynamics of a slow qubit coupled to a fast quantum harmonic oscillator interacting with a bosonic bath from weak to strong and ultra-strong coupling regimes. Solving the quantum Heisenberg equations of motion, perturbative in the internal coupling between qubit and oscillator, we derive functional relationships directly linking the qubit coordinates in the Bloch sphere to oscillator observables. We then perform accurate time-dependent Matrix Product State simulations and compare our results both with the analytical solutions of the Heisenberg equations of motion, and with numerical solutions of a Lindblad master equation, perturbative in the external coupling between oscillator and environment. Indeed, we show that, up to the strong coupling regime, the qubit state accurately fulfils the derived functional relationships. We analyse in detail the case of a qubit starting with generic coordinates on the Bloch sphere of which we evaluate the three components of the Bloch vector through the averages of oscillator observables. Interestingly, a weak to intermediate oscillator coupling to the bath is able to simplify the Bloch vector evaluation since qubit-oscillator relationships are more immediate. Moreover, by monitoring the qubit fidelity with respect to free limit, we find the parameter regime where the combined effect of internal and external couplings is able to hinder the reliable evaluation of the qubit Bloch vector. Finally, in the ultra-strong coupling regime, non-Markovian effects become robust and the dynamics of qubit and oscillator are inextricably entangled making the qubit Bloch vector evaluation difficult. Graphical Abstract
A qubit--harmonic-oscillator open system coupled to thermal baths was considered and the master equation describing the evolution of the open system was deduced when the qubit transition frequency is $\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.1$ the oscillator frequency. The master equation is valid in all the qubit-oscillator state space and holds for all values of the qubit-oscillator coupling including the ultrastrong and deep strong coupling regimes. It only requires an oscillator frequency much larger than the relaxation rates. The qubit-oscillator coupling can enhance or decrease both the relaxation rates and the frequency shifts induced by the thermal baths. It was found that weak, sinusoidal qubit driving forces the qubit-oscillator open system to behave like a driven qubit whose evolution is governed by equations similar to those of the Bloch vector in the optical Bloch equations and whose transition frequency decreases with increasing qubit-oscillator coupling strength. Finally, it was shown how one can reach the adiabatic regime by using sinusoidal qubit driving with large driving frequency and the concepts of $\ensuremath{\pi}$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ pulses were generalized to manipulate transitions between dressed states.
This work presents a systematic numerical study of the dissipative Jaynes-Cummings model, consisting of a two-level system (qubit) coupled to a truncated harmonic oscillator, both subject to Markovian dissipation. The model is standard in quantum optics and open quantum systems. The master equation is solved using the Lindblad formalism with BDF integration. The study focuses on two standard observables: the qubit excited-state population P_exc(t) and the qubit Bloch vector length |r(t)|. A three-dimensional parameter scan is performed over the coupling g, the qubit dephasing rate gamma_phi, and the oscillator relaxation rate gamma_a, giving 216 cells in total. The parameters used are omega_0 = 6 Hz, omega_1 = 40 Hz, giving a detuning delta = 34 Hz, and thermal occupation n_th = 0.05. MAIN FINDINGS: The single-exponential description of the excited-state population is valid only at intermediate coupling (g approximately 4 to 8 Hz). Outside this region, the dynamics exhibits a multi-timescale structure. The decay time T is non-monotonic in g, with a minimum at g approximately 7 Hz. The location of the minimum depends only weakly on gamma_a, following a power law with exponent 0.127. At strong coupling (g greater than 15 Hz), a two-exponential model is strongly preferred by the Akaike Information Criterion in 43 out of 45 cells. The two timescales are separated by a factor of approximately 150. The fast timescale T_1 is best approximated by the Purcell formula (median ratio of numerical to theoretical value 0.68). The Fermi golden rule overestimates the decay rate by a factor of approximately 4.5. Neither the dressed-state correction nor the Bloch-Redfield calculation improves on the Purcell formula. The Bloch vector length does not follow any simple functional form (single exponential, stretched exponential, power law, or double exponential). All models have mean R-squared in the range 0.31 to 0.36. Its time derivative is, however, almost perfectly correlated with that of the population (mean correlation 0.91). The results are converged with respect to the Fock-space truncation at N_0 = 12, with identical observables for N_0 between 12 and 20. SCOPE: This is a purely numerical study of a well-defined quantum-optical model. It contains no empirical data, no claims about biological or cognitive systems, and no speculative ontology. The model, the numerical method, and the observables are standard. The results include several negative findings (the failure of perturbative formulas, the lack of a simple functional form for the Bloch vector) which are reported honestly and which identify the regime where non-perturbative methods are required. The purpose of this release is to provide reproducible numerical data and a benchmark for future analytical work on the dissipative Jaynes-Cummings model in the strong-coupling regime. CONTENTS: The LaTeX technical note (approximately 20 pages), the Python scripts for the numerical simulations, and the CSV files with the fit results, regime classification, and theoretical comparison. REFERENCES: E. T. Jaynes and F. W. Cummings, Proc. IEEE 51, 89 (1963).G. Lindblad, Commun. Math. Phys. 48, 119 (1976).H.-P. Breuer and F. Petruccione, The Theory of Open Quantum Systems, Oxford University Press (2002).C. W. Gardiner and P. Zoller, Quantum Noise, 3rd ed., Springer (2004).E. M. Purcell, Phys. Rev. 69, 681 (1946).C. Cohen-Tannoudji, J. Dupont-Roc, and G. Grynberg, Atom-Photon Interactions, Wiley (1992).W. P. Schleich, Quantum Optics in Phase Space, Wiley-VCH (2001).
Understanding the dynamics of dissipative quantum systems, particularly beyond the weak coupling approximation, is central to various quantum applications. While numerically exact methods provide accurate solutions, they often lack the analytical insight provided by theoretical approaches. In this study, we employ the recently developed method dubbed the effective Hamiltonian theory to understand the dynamics of system-bath configurations without resorting to a perturbative description of the system-bath coupling energy. Through a combination of mapping steps and truncation, the effective Hamiltonian theory offers both analytical insights into signatures of strong couplings in open quantum systems and a straightforward path for numerical simulations. To validate the accuracy of the method, we apply it to two canonical models: a single spin immersed in a bosonic bath and two noninteracting spins in a common bath. In both cases, we study the transient regime and the steady state limit at nonzero temperature and spanning system-bath interactions from the weak to the strong regime. By comparing the results of the effective Hamiltonian theory with numerically exact simulations, we show that although the former overlooks non-Markovian features in the transient equilibration dynamics, it correctly captures non-perturbative bath-generated couplings between otherwise non-interacting spins, as observed in their synchronization dynamics and correlations. Altogether, the effective Hamiltonian theory offers a powerful approach for understanding strong coupling dynamics and thermodynamics, capturing the signatures of such interactions in both relaxation dynamics and in the steady state limit.
Environmental influences on the dynamics of a coupled qubit-oscillator system are studied analytically in a regime where deviations from the exactly solvable Jaynes–Cummings model are important. We investigate the case of a quasi-degenerate qubit within the ultra-strong coupling regime for which the qubit frequency is much smaller than the frequency of the oscillator, and the coupling between the qubit and the oscillator is large, both of which invalidate the usually employed rotating wave approximation. In contrast to the standard quantum optics master equation, we explicitly take the qubit-oscillator coupling into account while microscopically deriving a dressed state master equation. Using the derived master equation, we discuss a spectroscopic technique which can be used to probe the dressed energy-level structure of the qubit-oscillator system.
The Jaynes-Cummings and quantum Rabi models are fundamental to cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamics, as they describe the simplest form of light-matter interaction, where a single qubit is coupled to a single bosonic mode. A scenario that is commonly encountered in the experimental practice arises when the bosonic mode interacts with an external dissipative thermal bath, making the qubit-boson system open. In this work, we present a new analytical solution of the Lindblad master equations for the open dispersive Jaynes-Cummings model and a perturbative analytical solution of the open quantum Rabi model in the limit of weak qubit-boson coupling g, using the holomorphic formalism in Bargmann space. Specifically, we derive the most general solution of the local Lindblad master equation for the open dispersive Jaynes-Cummings model coupled to a thermal bath, with the only assumptions that the initial state of the qubit-boson system is separable. Additionally, we obtain a perturbative analytical solution for the open quantum Rabi model up to second order in g. Notably, our findings include a new formula for the qubit's steady state at zeroth order, showing that the stationary populations depend on both qubit and boson frequencies in the quantum Rabi model, but not in the Jaynes-Cummings model, regardless of the value of g. Our results are of general interest to the study of open quantum systems in the context of light-matter interaction.
We investigate how to model Markovian evolution of coupled harmonic oscillators, each of them interacting with a local environment. When the coupling between the oscillators is weak, dissipation may be modeled using local Lindblad terms for each of the oscillators in the master equation, as is commonly done. When the coupling between oscillators is strong, this model may become invalid. We derive a master equation for two coupled harmonic oscillators that are subject to individual heat baths modeled by a collection of harmonic oscillators and show that this master equation in general contains nonlocal Lindblad terms. We compare the resulting time evolution with that obtained for dissipation through local Lindblad terms for each individual oscillator and show that the evolution is different in the two cases. In particular, the two descriptions give different predictions for the steady state and for the entanglement between strongly coupled oscillators. This shows that when describing strongly coupled harmonic oscillators, one must take great care in how dissipation is modeled and that a description using local Lindblad terms may fail. This may be particularly relevant when attempting to generate entangled states of strongly coupled quantum systems.