Spectral continuum in the Rabi-Stark model

The Rabi-Stark model is a non-linear generalization of the quantum Rabi model including the dynamical Stark shift as a tunable term, which can be realized via quantum simulation on a cavity QED platform. When the Stark coupling becomes equal to the mode frequency, the spectrum changes drastically, a transition usually termed "spectral collapse" because numerical studies indicate an infinitely degenerate ground state. We show that the spectrum extends continuously from a threshold value up to infinity. A set of normalizable states are embedded in the continuum which furnishes an unexpected analogy to the atomic Stark effect. Bound states and continuum can be obtained analytically through two equally justified, but different confluence processes of the associated differential equation in Bargmann space. Moreover, these results are obtained independently using a method based on adiabatic elimination of the spin degree of freedom and corroborated through large-scale numerical checks.