Rotating-wave approximation for spin-boson models with structured fields

Abstract

We derive state-dependent bounds on the difference between two quantum evolutions generated by unbounded Hamiltonians sharing a common form domain. The main technical tool is a second integration by parts, performed at the level of sesquilinear forms rather than at the operator level, which removes the need for a common invariant operator domain. The resulting estimate involves the norm of the time-integrated difference of the two generators, rather than the integral of its norm, and is therefore sensitive to the averaging effects produced by fast-oscillating terms. As an application we prove a quantitative bound on the rotating-wave approximation for spin-boson models with a structured boson field, described by an arbitrary massive dispersion relation on a general measure space and by a suitable class of form factors. The proof involves a careful analysis of the high-frequency scaling. The bound holds on a dense subspace of states, is fully explicit, and all the constants entering it depend only on the parameters of the model and not on the frequency scale, so that the approximation becomes exact in the limit of large frequency.