Quantum dynamics of ultra-cold atoms in the presence of virtual photons

TL;DR

This paper investigates the quantum dynamics of ultra-cold atoms interacting with virtual photons, analyzing energy spectra, entanglement, and state probabilities through Hamiltonian diagonalization, comparing full and approximated models.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison between full Hamiltonian and rotated wave approximation models for ultra-cold atoms interacting with virtual photons, highlighting key differences.

Findings

Differences in energy spectra between models.

Variations in entanglement measures.

Impact of approximations in the Lamb-Dick regime.

Abstract

A single trapped ion interacting with laser light in a radiofrequency trap is considered by diagonalization of full Hamiltonian of the system in a suitable basis. The energies, eigenvectors, probabilities of finding the atom in the ground state, density matrixes and its entanglement are computed. The study repeated for the Hamiltonian under the rotated wave approximation in the same basis. The results compared in general and in the Lamb-Dick regime for ultra-cold atoms to reveal essential changes in the results.