Heat kernel for the quantum Rabi model

Abstract

The quantum Rabi model (QRM) is widely recognized as a particularly important model in quantum optics. It is considered to be the simplest and most fundamental system describing quantum light-matter interaction. The objective of the paper is to give an analytical formula of the heat kernel of the Hamiltonian explicitly by infinite series of iterated integrals. The derivation of the formula is based on the direct evaluation of the Trotter-Kato product formula without the use of Feynman-Kac path integrals. More precisely, the infinite sum in the expression of the heat kernel arises from the reduction of the Trotter-Kato product formula into sums over the orbits of the action of the infinite symmetric group $\mathfrak{S}_\infty$ on the group $\mathbb{Z}_2^{\infty}$, and the iterated integrals are then considered as the orbital integral for each orbit. Here, the groups $ \mathbb{Z}_2^{\infty} $ and $\mathfrak{S}_\infty$ are the inductive limit of the families $\{\mathbb{Z}_2^n\}_{n\geq0}$ and $\{\mathfrak{S}_n\}_{n\geq0}$, respectively. In order to complete the reduction, an extensive study of harmonic (Fourier) analysis on the inductive family of abelian groups $\mathbb{Z}_2^n\, (n \geq0)$ together with a graph theoretical investigation is crucial. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first explicit computation for obtaining a closed formula of the heat kernel for a non-trivial realistic interacting quantum system. The heat kernel of this model is further given by a two-by-two matrix valued function and is expressed as a direct sum of two respective heat kernels representing the parity ($\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetry) decomposition of the Hamiltonian by parity.