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arXiv:1706.07015 · Journal of High Energy Physics

A line of CFTs: from generalized free fields to SYK

David J. Gross, Vladimir Rosenhaus

Published Jul 1, 2017• 84 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We point out that there is a simple variant of the SYK model, which we call cSYK, that is SL(2, $$ \mathrm{\mathbb{R}} $$ ) invariant for all values of the coupling. The modification consists of replacing the UV part of the SYK action with a quadratic bilocal term. The corresponding bulk dual is a non-gravitational theory in a rigid AdS2 background. At weak coupling cSYK is a generalized free field theory; at strong coupling, it approaches the infrared of SYK. The existence of this line of fixed points explains the previously found connection between the three-point function of bilinears in these two theories at large q.

DOI
10.1007/jhep07(2017)086

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We point out that there is a simple variant of the SYK model, which we call cSYK, that is SL(2, R\mathrm{\mathbb{R}}R ) invariant for all values of the coupling. The modification consists of replacing the UV part of the SYK action with a quadratic bilocal term. The corresponding bulk dual is a non-gravitational theory in a rigid AdS2 background. At weak coupling cSYK is a generalized free field theory; at strong coupling, it approaches the infrared of SYK. The existence of this line of fixed points explains the previously found connection between the three-point function of bilinears in these two theories at large q.
We study (nearly) AdS/CFT holography within the context of the Sachdev-Ye- Kitaev (SYK) model. We present a systematic procedure to extract the dynamics of the low energy Schwarzian mode in SYK type models with a single energy scale J and emergent reparametrization symmetry in the infrared within the framework of perturbation theory. We develop a systematic approach using Feynman diagrams in bilocal theory to obtain a formal expression for the enhanced and O(1) corrections to the bilocal propagator and apply this general technique to large q SYK. We show that the Schwarzian theory describes a sector of a general class of two dimensional CFTs using conformal bootstrap techniques. We also provide a gravitational interpretation of this fact by showing that the dynamics in the near horizon throat of a specific class of BTZ black holes is described very well by Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity which gives rise to the Schwarzian action. We study the highly nontrivial conformal matter spectrum of the SYK model at arbitrary q. We provide a three dimensional bulk interpretation and carry out Kaluza-Klein (KK) reduction to reproduce the SYK spectrum and more significantly, the conformal bilocal propagator. We provide an interpretation of the two dimensional dual spacetime of the conformal sector of the SYK model using techniques from bilocal holography. We present a resolution of a conundrum about the signature of the dual spacetime using nonlocal integral transformations.
The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model is a quantum mechanical many body system with random all-to-all interactions on fermionic N sites (N>>1). This model is shown to saturate the known maximal chaos bound of many body system and then based on this observation it is conjectured to be dual to a quantum black hole in the sense of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In this dissertation, we show that the large N physics of the SYK model is systematically described by a single bi-local field. In particular, we emphasize the appearance of the emergent conformal reparametrization symmetry at the critical IR fixed point and the corresponding divergent contribution of the symmetry modes in the propagator of the bi-local field. We discuss non-linear-level derivation of the zero modes effective action, which is given by the Schwarzian derivative for finite reparametrization symmetry. Besides the symmetry modes, which correspond to the dilaton-gravity sector in the dual AdS theory, the SYK model also predicts an infinite tower of matter fields in AdS_2. We demonstrate that this infinite spectrum can be nicely packaged into a single field in 3-dimensional space-time. Finally, we consider the question of identifying the dual space-time of the SYK model. Focusing on the signature of emergent space-time of the (Euclidean) model, we explain the need for non-local (Radon-type) transformations on external legs of n-point Green's functions. This results in a dual theory with Euclidean AdS signature with additional leg-factors. We speculate that these factors incorporate the coupling of additional bulk states similar to the discrete states of 2D string theory.
Abstract The Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) model is a strongly coupled, quantum many-body system that is chaotic, nearly conformally invariant, and exactly solvable. This remarkable and, to date, unique combination of properties have driven the intense activity surrounding the SYK model and its applications within both high energy and condensed matter physics. In this review we give an introduction to the SYK model and recent developments connected to it. We discuss: SYK and tensor models as a new class of large N quantum field theories, the near-conformal invariance in the infrared, the computation of correlation functions, generalizations of the SYK model, and applications to AdS/CFT and strange metals.
In [15] it was shown that the spectrum and bilocal propagator of SYK model with four fermion interactions can be realized as a three dimensional model in AdS2 ×S1/Z2 with nontrivial boundary conditions in the additional dimension. In this paper we show that a similar picture holds for generalizations of the SYK model with q-fermion interactions. The 3D realization is now given on a space whose metric is conformal to AdS2 × S1/Z2 and is subject to a non-trivial potential in addition to a delta function at the center of the interval. It is shown that a Horava-Witten compactification reproduces the exact SYK spectrum and a non-standard propagator between points which lie at the center of the interval exactly agrees with the bilocal propagator. As q → ∞, the wave function of one of the modes at the center of the interval vanish as 1/q, while the others vanish as 1/q2, in a way consistent with the fact that in the SYK model only one of the modes contributes to the bilocal propagator in this limit.
We discuss higher dimensional generalizations of the 0+1 0 + 1 -dimensional Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model that has recently become the focus of intensive interdisciplinary studies by, both, the condensed matter and field-theoretical communities. Unlike the previous constructions where multiple SYK copies would be coupled to each other and/or hybridized with itinerant fermions via spatially short-ranged random hopping processes, we study algebraically varying long-range (spatially and/or temporally) correlated random couplings in the general d+1 d + 1 dimensions. Such pertinent topics as translationally-invariant strong-coupling solutions, emergent reparametrization symmetry, effective action for fluctuations, chaotic behavior, and diffusive transport (or a lack thereof) are all addressed. We find that the most appealing properties of the original SYK model that suggest the existence of its 1+1 1 + 1 -dimensional holographic gravity dual do not survive the aforementioned generalizations, thus lending no additional support to the hypothetical broad (including ’non- AdS_{d+2} A d S d + 2 /non- CFT_{d+1} C F T d + 1 ’) holographic correspondence.
Abstract We explore computationally tractable deformations of the SYK model. The deformed theories are described by the sum of two SYK Hamiltonians with differing numbers, q and q∼ \overset{\sim }{q} q∼​ q ~ , of interacting fermions. In the large N limit, employing analytic and numerical tools, we compute finite temperature correlation functions and thermodynamic quantities. We identify a novel analytically solvable model in the large q limit. We find that, under certain circumstances, the thermal RG flow in the strongly coupled infrared phase exhibits two regions of linear-in-temperature entropy, which we interpret in terms of Schwarzian actions. Using conformal perturbation theory we compute the leading relevant correction away from the intermediate near-conformal fixed point. Holographic spacetimes in two spacetime dimensions that reproduce the thermodynamics of the microphysical theory are discussed. These are flow geometries that interpolate between two Euclidean near-AdS2 spacetimes with different radii. The Schwarzian soft mode corresponding to the AdS2 region in the deep interior resides entirely within the geometric regime.