Metastability in the Dissipative Quantum Rabi Model

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2511.21508v1
• Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 15:43:16 GMT
• Title: Metastability in the Dissipative Quantum Rabi Model
• Authors: Da-Wu Xiao, Chong Chen,
• Abstract summary: We investigate the stability of the superradiant phase in the presence of a weak spin relaxation.<n>We find that even a weak spin relaxation can render the superradiant phase to a superradiant metastable phase.<n>Our findings establish the metastable nature of the symmetry-breaking states in the dissipative quantum Rabi model.
• Score: 4.502673209203274
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: The dissipative quantum Rabi model exhibits rich non-equilibrium physics, including a dissipative phase transition from the normal phase to the superradiant phase. In this work, we investigate the stability of the superradiant phase in the presence of a weak spin relaxation. We find that even a weak spin relaxation can render the superradiant phase to a superradiant metastable phase, in which symmetry-breaking states are stable only for a finite time. This arises because each spin-jump induced by relaxation applies as a strong perturbation to the system, potentially driving the system from a symmetry-breaking state to the symmetry-preserving saddle point with finite probability, before it eventually relaxes back to a symmetry-breaking state. Such dynamical processes lead to a finite lifetime of the symmetry-breaking states and restore the symmetry in the steady state. To substantiate these results, we combine mean-field and cumulant expansion analyses with exact numerical simulations. The lifetime of the symmetry-breaking states are analyzed in finite-size systems, and the conclusions are extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit via finite-size scaling. Our findings establish the metastable nature of the symmetry-breaking states in the dissipative quantum Rabi model and reveal the complexity of the dissipative phase transition beyond their equilibrium counterpart. The mechanisms uncovered here can be generalized to a broad class of open quantum systems, highlighting fundamental distinctions between equilibrium phase transitions and steady-state phase transitions.

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