Rotating wave approximation example other than Jaynes Cumming model

Question

Is the rotating wave approximation only valid in the interaction picture?

In the Jaynes-Cumming model, the interaction Hamiltonian is simplified in the rotating wave approximation. Is the rotating wave approximation needed in deriving a master equation which does not involve the Jaynes-Cumming interaction Hamiltonian?

Answer 1

The rotating wave approximation is used not only in the(original) Jaynes–Cummings model - which is just one of the simplest models where it applies - but whenever a particular influential frequency must be cancelled analytically. Thus it is always used in combination with the interaction picture. 

A few pointers to related topics:

limitations of the RWA: http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.50.966

generalization of the RWA: http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2087

Solving Jaynes–Cummings like models exactly without RWA:  http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.3280, http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.5893, http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.7834