Effective spin physics in two-dimensional cavity QED arrays

Abstract: We investigate a strongly correlated system of light and matter in two-dimensional cavity arrays. We formulate a Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian for two-level atoms coupled to cavity modes and driven by an external laser field which reduces to an effective spin Hamiltonian in the dispersive regime. In one dimension we provide exact analytical solution. In two dimensions, we perform mean-field study and large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of both the Jaynes-Cummings and the effective spin models. We discuss the phase diagram and the parameter regime which gives rise to frustrated interactions between the spins. We provide quantitative description of the phase transitions and correlation properties featured by the system and we discuss graph-theoretical properties of the ground states in terms of graph colorings using P\'{o}lya's enumeration theorem.