Optimal Dynamical Gauge in the Quantum Rabi Model

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the gauge dependence of various physical observables in the quantum Rabi model (QRM) under different potential fields, arising from the Hilbert-space truncation of the atomic degree of freedom. We discover that in both the square-well potential and oscillator potential,the optimal gauges for the ground-state energy of the QRM vary with respect to the cavity frequency, with the dipole gauge being optimal in the low-frequency limit and the Coulomb gauge in the high-frequency limit of the cavity frequency. Additionally, for higher energy levels, the optimal gauge asymptotically approaches the dipole gauge. However, for the dynamical quantity out-time-order correlator (OTOC), we find the necessity to introduce an optimal dynamical gauge. We determine the optimal dynamical gauge by minimizing the mean error between the two-level OTOC and the full Hamiltonian one. We expect that this study will contribute to a more profound understanding of the subtle relation between gauge choice and the dynamics of QED systems.