Extreme events and power-law distributions from nonlinear quantum dissipation

Abstract: Power-law probability distributions are widely used to model extreme statistical events in complex systems, with applications to a vast array of natural phenomena ranging from earthquakes to stock market crashes to pandemics. We propose the emergence of power-law distributions as a generic feature of quantum systems with strong nonlinear dissipation. We introduce a prototypical family of quantum dynamical systems with nonlinear dissipation, and prove analytically the emergence of power-law tails in the steady state probability distribution for energy. The power law physically originates from the amplification of quantum noise, where the scale of the microscopic fluctuations grows with the energy of the system. Our model predicts a power-law regime with infinite mean energy, which manifests as extreme events and divergences in the measurement statistics. Furthermore, we provide numerical evidence of power-law distributions for a general class of nonlinear dynamics known as quantum Li\'enard systems. This phenomenon can be potentially harnessed to develop extreme photon sources for novel applications in light-matter interaction and sensing.