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arXiv:2606.12906

Global Control with the Tavis-Cummings Interaction

Plato Deliyannis, Iman Marvian

quant-phcond-mat.mes-hallmath-phnucl-thphysics.atom-phSubmitted Jun 11, 2026• Announced Jun 12, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We study the controllability of a system of qubits under global control, where control pulses act identically on all qubits. Specifically, we consider a collection of qubits identically coupled to a single bosonic mode, or harmonic oscillator, via the Jaynes-Cummings interaction. This collective coupling, known as the Tavis-Cummings (TC) interaction, has been realized in several quantum computing platforms, including superconducting and atomic qubit systems. Although the qubits do not interact directly with one another, they can become entangled through their common coupling to the bosonic mode. We characterize the group of unitaries that can be implemented on the joint Hilbert space of the qubits and bosonic mode using the TC interaction together with a global $z$ field $J_z$, corresponding to identical z rotations on all qubits. We show that for n>2 qubits the set of realizable unitaries is restricted by an "accidental" symmetry of the TC Hamiltonian, distinct from its "standard" U(1) and permutational symmetries. On the other hand, we find that the Hamiltonian $J_z^2$ breaks this accidental symmetry and, together with the TC interaction and $J_z$, achieves semi-universality: it allows the implementation of arbitrary unitaries that respect permutational and U(1) symmetry, up to certain constraints on the center of the group. In a companion paper, we further analyze this remarkable accidental symmetry and show that it can be understood through Schwinger's bosonic model of angular momentum.

Comments
v1: 27 pages + 15 pages of appendices. Parts of the results were previously presented in arXiv:2506.03453, which has now been expanded and split

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We present the analytical solution of the Tavis-Cummings (TC) model for more than one qubit inhomogeneously coupled to a single mode radiation field beyond the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). The significant advantage of the displaced oscillator basis enables us to apply the same truncation techniques adopted in the single qubit Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model to the multiple qubits system. The derived analytical spectrum match perfectly the exact diagonalization numerical solutions of the inhomogeneous TC model in the parameter regime where the qubits transition frequencies are far off-resonance with the field frequency and the interaction strengths reach the ultra-strong coupling regime. The two-qubit TC model is quasi-exactly solvable because part of the spectra can be determined exactly in the homogeneous coupling case with two identical qubits or with symmetric(asymmetric) detuning. By means of the fidelity of quantum states we identify several nontrivial level crossing points in the same parity subspace, which implies that homogeneous coupled two-qubit TC model with $ω_1=ω_2$ or $ω_1\pmω_2=2ω_c$ is integrable. We further explore the time evolution of the qubit's population inversion and the entanglement behavior taking two qubits as an example. The analytical methods provide unexpectedly accurate results in describing the dynamics of the qubit in the present experimentally accessible coupling regime, showing that the collapse-revival phenomena emerge, survive, and are finally destroyed when the coupling strength increases beyond the ultra-strong coupling regime. The suggested procedure applies readily to the multiple qubits system such as the GHZ state entanglement evolution and quantum entanglement between a single photon and superconducting qubits of particular experiment interest.

arXiv:1403.5893•Mar 24, 2014•1 citation
We study the controllability of a system of qubits under global control, where control pulses act identically on all qubits. Specifically, we consider a collection of qubits identically coupled to a single bosonic mode, or harmonic oscillator, via the Jaynes-Cummings interaction. This collective coupling, known as the Tavis-Cummings (TC) interaction, has been realized in several quantum computing platforms, including superconducting and atomic qubit systems. Although the qubits do not interact directly with one another, they can become entangled through their common coupling to the bosonic mode. We characterize the group of unitaries that can be implemented on the joint Hilbert space of the qubits and bosonic mode using the TC interaction together with a global zzz field JzJ_zJz​, corresponding to identical z rotations on all qubits. We show that for n>2 qubits the set of realizable unitaries is restricted by an "accidental" symmetry of the TC Hamiltonian, distinct from its "standard" U(1) and permutational symmetries. On the other hand, we find that the Hamiltonian Jz2J_z^2Jz2​ breaks this accidental symmetry and, together with the TC interaction and JzJ_zJz​, achieves semi-universality: it allows the implementation of arbitrary unitaries that respect permutational and U(1) symmetry, up to certain constraints on the center of the group. In a companion paper, we further analyze this remarkable accidental symmetry and show that it can be understood through Schwinger's bosonic model of angular momentum.
The Jaynes-Cummings (JC) Hamiltonian is a paradigmatic model of light-matter interaction and, more generally, qubit-boson interactions, widely used across atomic, optical, and superconducting qubit platforms. In the multi-qubit setting, where n qubits are identically coupled to a single boson mode, this interaction is known as the Tavis-Cummings (TC) Hamiltonian. The structure of the TC model is usually understood in terms of two standard symmetries: permutation invariance of the qubits and a U(1) symmetry associated with conservation of the total excitation number. Here we identify an additional, independent "accidental" symmetry of the TC Hamiltonian and construct the corresponding conserved observable. We show that, for n>2 qubits, this symmetry imposes strong constraints on the realizable unitary transformations. These constraints persist in the presence of the global JzJ_zJz​ Hamiltonian, but are removed by adding Jz2J_z^2Jz2​, even though Jz2J_z^2Jz2​ preserves both permutation invariance and the U(1) symmetry. Finally, we explain the origin of this previously unnoticed symmetry using Schwinger's boson representation of angular momentum. These restrictions have important implications for controllability of the TC system and for its applications to quantum computing, which are investigated further in a companion paper.
The Jaynes-Cummings (JC) interaction-the coherent exchange of excitations between a two-level system and a harmonic oscillator-is one of the fundamental interactions of quantum optics, realized across platforms such as cavity quantum electrodynamics, trapped ions, mechanical resonators, and superconducting circuits. Although JC interactions and qubit rotations form a universal gate set for oscillator control, practical implementations have not been demonstrated. Here we develop and experimentally demonstrate universal JC-based oscillator control by compiling arbitrary unitary gates into sequences of JC interactions and qubit rotations. In our experiment, the oscillator is realized using a mode of a high quality factor microwave cavity and the ancilla qubit using a superconducting transmon circuit, with the JC interaction implemented by a sideband interaction enabled by the Josephson nonlinearity. The native gates are constructed to be closed below a chosen cutoff photon number, encoding a qudit with suppressed leakage errors, while ancilla relaxation errors are detectable. We further find that the dispersive shift serves as a compilation resource that reduces circuit depths. We demonstrate universal qudit control and implement a single-qutrit gate set with a mean post-selected process fidelity of 96.3%, as well as ququart and ququint shift gates. These results establish Jaynes-Cummings control as a practical route to universal oscillator control, enabling programmable bosonic processors across a variety of quantum platforms.
Global control provides a promising route to implementing multi-qubit gates without individual qubit addressing. This is especially appealing for permutation-invariant (PI) gates, whose symmetry is often broken when they are compiled into individually addressed one- and two-qubit gates. Important examples include SWAP, iSWAP\sqrt{i\text{SWAP}}iSWAP​, and the n-qubit controlled-Z gate, which is equivalent, up to two single-qubit Hadamard gates, to the multi-qubit Toffoli gate. Motivated by this global-control perspective, we show that all PI unitaries on an arbitrary number of qubits can be realized using the Tavis-Cummings (TC) interaction, the multi-qubit version of the Jaynes-Cummings interaction, together with global uniform z and x fields. Here, the nnn qubits are identically coupled to a single bosonic mode (oscillator), which is initialized in and returned to its vacuum state. A corollary is that all PI states, including GHZ and Dicke states, can be prepared using the same global control. For the case n=2 qubits, which is particularly important in quantum computing, we also find explicit pulse sequences for implementing all PI qubit unitaries that conserve angular momentum in the z direction, using only the TC interaction and global z fields. This includes controlled-Z, SWAP, and iSWAP\sqrt{i\text{SWAP}}iSWAP​.
We present an ideal realization of the Tavis-Cummings model in the absence of atom number and coupling fluctuations by embedding a discrete number of fully controllable superconducting qubits at fixed positions into a transmission line resonator. Measuring the vacuum Rabi mode splitting with one, two, and three qubits strongly coupled to the cavity field, we explore both bright and dark dressed collective multiqubit states and observe the discrete square root N scaling of the collective dipole coupling strength. Our experiments demonstrate a novel approach to explore collective states, such as the W state, in a fully globally and locally controllable quantum system. Our scalable approach is interesting for solid-state quantum information processing and for fundamental multiatom quantum optics experiments with fixed atom numbers.
We treat control of several two-level atoms interacting with one mode of the electromagnetic field in a cavity. This provides a useful model to study pertinent aspects of quantum control in infinite dimensions via the emergence of infinite-dimensional system algebras. Hence we address problems arising with infinite-dimensional Lie algebras and those of unbounded operators. For the models considered, these problems can be solved by splitting the set of control Hamiltonians into two subsets: the first obeys an Abelian symmetry and can be treated in terms of infinite-dimensional Lie algebras and strongly closed subgroups of the unitary group of the system Hilbert space. The second breaks this symmetry, and its discussion introduces new arguments. Yet, full controllability can be achieved in a strong sense: e.g., in a time dependent Jaynes–Cummings model we show that, by tuning coupling constants appropriately, every unitary of the coupled system (atoms and cavity) can be approximated with arbitrarily small error.
We present the analytical solution of the Tavis-Cummings (TC) model for more than one qubit inhomogeneously coupled to a single mode radiation field beyond the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). The significant advantage of the displaced oscillator basis enables us to apply the same truncation techniques adopted in the single qubit Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model to the multiple qubits system. The derived analytical spectrum match perfectly the exact diagonalization numerical solutions of the inhomogeneous TC model in the parameter regime where the qubits transition frequencies are far off-resonance with the field frequency and the interaction strengths reach the ultra-strong coupling regime. The two-qubit TC model is quasi-exactly solvable because part of the spectra can be determined exactly in the homogeneous coupling case with two identical qubits or with symmetric(asymmetric) detuning. By means of the fidelity of quantum states we identify several nontrivial level crossing points in the same parity subspace, which implies that homogeneous coupled two-qubit TC model with ω1=ω2ω_1=ω_2ω1​=ω2​ or ω1±ω2=2ωcω_1\pmω_2=2ω_cω1​±ω2​=2ωc​ is integrable. We further explore the time evolution of the qubit's population inversion and the entanglement behavior taking two qubits as an example. The analytical methods provide unexpectedly accurate results in describing the dynamics of the qubit in the present experimentally accessible coupling regime, showing that the collapse-revival phenomena emerge, survive, and are finally destroyed when the coupling strength increases beyond the ultra-strong coupling regime. The suggested procedure applies readily to the multiple qubits system such as the GHZ state entanglement evolution and quantum entanglement between a single photon and superconducting qubits of particular experiment interest.