There is no ultrastrong coupling with photons
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866912515184656384 |
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| author | de la Pradilla, Diego Fernández Moreno, Esteban Feist, Johannes |
| author_facet | de la Pradilla, Diego Fernández Moreno, Esteban Feist, Johannes |
| contents | Theoretical accounts of ultrastrongly coupled light-matter systems commonly assume that it arises from the interaction of an emitter with propagating photon modes supported by a structure, understanding photons as the excitations of the transverse electromagnetic field. This description discards the Coulomb interaction between the emitter and structure charges. Here, we show with a general argument based on electromagnetic constraints that the emitter-photon coupling strength is fundamentally limited. Accordingly, we conclude that the ultrastrong coupling regime cannot be reached with photons. Instead, it must originate from the Coulomb interactions between charges. A further corollary is that the so-called polarization self-energy term does not need to be included. We illustrate our claims by solving an analytical model of the paradigmatic case of an emitter next to a metallic nanosphere. These findings shed light on the fundamental processes underlying ultrastrong coupling, clarify the role of the polarization self-energy term and compel a reevaluation of previous literature. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_00702 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | There is no ultrastrong coupling with photons de la Pradilla, Diego Fernández Moreno, Esteban Feist, Johannes Quantum Physics Other Condensed Matter Optics Theoretical accounts of ultrastrongly coupled light-matter systems commonly assume that it arises from the interaction of an emitter with propagating photon modes supported by a structure, understanding photons as the excitations of the transverse electromagnetic field. This description discards the Coulomb interaction between the emitter and structure charges. Here, we show with a general argument based on electromagnetic constraints that the emitter-photon coupling strength is fundamentally limited. Accordingly, we conclude that the ultrastrong coupling regime cannot be reached with photons. Instead, it must originate from the Coulomb interactions between charges. A further corollary is that the so-called polarization self-energy term does not need to be included. We illustrate our claims by solving an analytical model of the paradigmatic case of an emitter next to a metallic nanosphere. These findings shed light on the fundamental processes underlying ultrastrong coupling, clarify the role of the polarization self-energy term and compel a reevaluation of previous literature. |
| title | There is no ultrastrong coupling with photons |
| topic | Quantum Physics Other Condensed Matter Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.00702 |