How ‘cold’ can a Markovian dissipative cavity QED system be?
Alexandre V. Dodonov · Physica Scripta · 2010
We consider the cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) system described by the Rabi Hamiltonian, composed of a two-level atom and a single cavity field mode, subject to Markovian damping and dephasing mechanisms. It is shown that without the rotating wave approximation the asymptotic mean photon number and the atomic excitation probability are above the thermal values due to the anti-resonant term in the Rabi Hamiltonian, and are always greater than zero. These quantities are evaluated approximately for two different master equations and compared to exact numerical results, showing good agreement. We discuss the origin of this phenomenon and show that it also persists for an empty dissipative cavity if one uses a quite general form of the Markovian master equation.