Entangling Power and Symmetries in the Quantum Rabi Model

Abstract

The quantum Rabi model is a standard effective Hamiltonian in studies of light-matter interaction, capturing the simplest nontrivial setting in which a qubit couples to a single harmonic oscillator. Within the broader Rabi family, we focus on two special cases: the Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model, which carries an explicit $U(1)$ symmetry, and the asymmetric quantum Rabi model (AQRM), which possesses a parameter-dependent "hidden'' symmetry that appears only at integer bias, $\varepsilon/ω\in\mathbb{Z}$, and is not manifest in the Hamiltonian. We use the time-averaged entangling power as an operator-level diagnostic of these symmetry structures. Since the oscillator Hilbert space is infinite-dimensional, we compare two finite input ensembles: a Haar average after Fock-space truncation and a coherent-state average at fixed mean occupation $\bar{n}$. Both diagnostics show peaks at the integer-bias points of the AQRM, where the hidden symmetry resides. In contrast, the manifest $U(1)$ symmetry at the JC point instead gives a weak dip. Thus, the time-averaged entangling power responds to both the hidden symmetry and the $U(1)$ symmetry in the Rabi family, with the sign of the response indicating how the symmetry reorganizes the spectral expansion. These results demonstrate that the entangling power can serve as an operator diagnostic to reveal the presence and properties of hidden and manifest symmetries in light-matter systems.