A semi-analytical open-quantum-system (Lindbladian) formula for the spontaneous inter-well switching rate of a driven double-well / Kerr parametric oscillator that explains the experimentally observed step-like 'staircase' as a crossover between tunneling-dominated and dissipation-dominated dynamics. It identifies two tunneling-limiting dissipative processes — dephasing that freezes tunneling via the quantum Zeno effect and excited-state decay that bounds tunneling time — and uses their rates with the tunnel splitting to locate the critical drive amplitude separating each step's flat and steep parts.
This quantum-physics paper explains the spontaneous switching of a quantum particle between the wells of a double-well potential, motivated by a driven superconducting Kerr nonlinear oscillator (Kerr…