We calculate numerically the fidelity and its susceptibility for the ground state of the Dicke model. A minimum in the fidelity identifies the critical value of the interaction where a quantum phase crossover, the precursor of a phase transition for
finite number of atoms N, takes place. The evolution of these observables is studied as a function of N, and their critical exponents evaluated. Using the critical exponents the universal curve for the specific susceptibility is recovered. An estimate to the precision to which the ground state wave function is numerically calculated is given, and found to have its lowest value, for a fixed truncation, in a vicinity of the critical coupling.
Two-level atoms interacting with a one mode cavity field at zero temperature have order parameters which reflect the presence of a quantum phase transition at a critical value of the atom-cavity coupling strength. Two popular examples are the number
of photons inside the cavity and the number of excited atoms. Coherent states provide a mean field description, which becomes exact in the thermodynamic limit. Employing symmetry adapted (SA) SU(2) coherent states (SACS) the critical behavior can be described for a finite number of atoms. A variation after projection treatment, involving a numerical minimization of the SA energy surface, associates the finite number phase transition with a discontinuity in the order parameters, which originates from a competition between two local minima in the SA energy surface.
