Theoretical analysis of a recent experiment on mesoscopic state superpositions in cavity QED

Quite recently quantum features exhibited by a mesoscopic field interacting with a single Rydberg atom in a microwave cavity has been observed [A. Auffeves et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 230405 (2003)]. In this paper we theoretically analyze all the phases of this articulated experiment considering from the very beginning cavity losses. Fully applying the theory of quantum open systems, our modelization succeeds in predicting fine aspects of the measured quantity, reaching qualitative and quantitative good agreement with the experimental results. This fact validates our theoretical approach based on the fundamental atom-cavity interaction model and simple mathematical structure of dissipative superoperators.