Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1804.09934 · Journal of High Energy Physics

The Thouless time for mass-deformed SYK

Tomoki Nosaka, Dario Rosa, Junggi Yoon

Published Sep 1, 2018• 66 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We study the onset of RMT dynamics in the mass-deformed SYK model (i.e. an SYK model deformed by a quadratic random interaction) in terms of the strength of the quadratic deformation. We use as chaos probes both the connected unfolded Spectral Form Factor (SFF) as well as the Gaussian-filtered SFF, which has been recently introduced in the literature. We show that they detect the chaotic/integrable transition of the mass-deformed SYK model at different values of the mass deformation: the Gaussian-filtered SFF sees the transition for large values of the mass deformation; the connected unfolded SFF sees the transition at small values. The latter shows a closer agreement with the transition as seen by the OTOCs. We argue that the chaotic/integrable deformation affects the energy levels inhomogeneously: for small values of the mass deformation only the low-lying states are modified while for large values of the mass deformation also the states in the bulk of the spectrum move to the integrable behavior.

DOI
10.1007/jhep09(2018)041

Related papers

Quantum chaos, scrambling and operator growth in $$ T\overline{T} $$ deformed SYK models

Song He, Pak Hang Chris Lau, Zhuo-Yu Xian +1 more

Abstract In this work, we investigate the quantum chaos in various $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ -deformed SYK models with finite N, including the SYK4, the supersymmetric SYK4, and the SYK2 models. We numerically study the evolution of the spectral form factor (SFF), the out-of-time ordered correlator (OTOC), and the Krylov complexity. We find that the characteristic evolution of the SFF, OTOC and K-complexity of both the SYK4 and SSYK4 models remains unchanged under the deformation, which implies that the properties of quantum chaos is preserved. We also identify a many-body localization behavior in the deformed SYK2 model.

arXiv:2209.14936•Journal of High Energy Physics•Dec 13, 2022•43 citations

Correlated disorder in the SYK 2 model

Pak Hang Chris Lau, Chen-Te Ma, Jeff Murugan +1 more

Abstract We study the SYK 2 model of N Majorana fermions with random quadratic interactions through a detailed spectral analysis and by coupling the model to two- and four-point sources. In particular, we define the generalized spectral form factor (SFF) and level spacing distribution function by generalizing from the partition function to the generating function. For N = 2, we obtain an exact solution of the generalized SFF. It exhibits qualitatively similar behavior to the higher N case with a source term. The exact solution helps understand the behavior of the generalized SFF. We calculate the generalized level spacing distribution function and the mean value of the adjacent gap ratio defined by the generating function. For the SYK 2 model with a four-point source term, we find a Gaussian unitary ensemble behavior in the near-integrable region of the theory, which indicates a transition to chaos. This behavior is confirmed by the connected part of the generalized SFF with an unfolded spectrum. The departure from this Gaussian random matrix behavior as the relative strength of the source term is increased is consistent with the observation that the four-point source term alone, without the SYK 2 couplings turned on, exhibits an integrable spectrum from the SFF and level spacing distribution function in the large N limit.

arXiv:2003.05401•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Jan 21, 2021•16 citations

A study of the SYK2 model with twisted boundary conditions

Jeff Murugan, Ruach Pillay Slayen, Hendrik J. R. Van Zyl

A bstract We study a version of the 2-body Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK 2 ) model whose complex fermions exhibit twisted boundary conditions on the thermal circle. As we show, this is physically equivalent to coupling the fermions to a 1-dimensional external gauge field A ( t ). In the latter formulation, the gauge field itself can be thought of as arising from a radial symmetry reduction of a (2 + 1)-dimensional Chern-Simons gauge field A μ ( t, x ). Using the diagnostic tools of the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) and spectral form factor (SFF), which probe the sensitivity to initial conditions and the spectral statistics respectively, we give a detailed and pedagogical study of the integrable/chaotic properties of the model. We find that the twisting has no effect on the OTOCs and, by extension, the early-time chaos properties of the model. It does, however, have two notable effects on the spectral form factor; an enhancement of the early-time slope and the emergence of an explicit twisting-dependent timescale needed for the manifestation of zero modes. These zero modes are responsible for the late-time exponential ramp in the quadratic SYK model.

arXiv:2307.01099•Journal of High Energy Physics•Apr 17, 2024•3 citations

Spectral form factor in chaotic, localized, and integrable open quantum many-body systems

Jiachen Li, Stephen Yan, Tomaž Prosen +1 more

We numerically study the spectral statistics of open quantum many-body systems (OQMBS) as signatures of quantum chaos (or the lack thereof), using the dissipative spectral form factor (DSFF), a generalization of the spectral form factor to complex spectra. We show that the DSFF of chaotic OQMBS generically displays the $\textit{quadratic}$ ramp-plateau behaviour of the Ginibre ensemble from random matrix theory, in contrast to the linear ramp-plateau behaviour of the Gaussian ensemble in closed quantum systems. Furthermore, in the presence of many-body interactions, such RMT behaviour emerges only after a time scale $τ_{\mathrm{dev}}$, which generally increases with system size for sufficiently large system size, and can be identified as the non-Hermitian analogue of the $\textit{many-body Thouless time}$. The universality of the random matrix theory behavior is demonstrated by surveying twelve models of OQMBS, including random Kraus circuits (quantum channels) and random Lindbladians (Liouvillians) in several symmetry classes, as well as Lindbladians of paradigmatic models such as the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK), XXZ, and the transverse field Ising models. We devise an unfolding and filtering procedure to remove variations of the averaged density of states which would otherwise hide the universal RMT-like signatures in the DSFF for chaotic OQMBS. Beyond chaotic OQMBS, we study the spectral statistics of non-chaotic OQMBS, specifically the integrable XX model and a system in the many-body localized (MBL) regime in the presence of dissipation, which exhibit DSFF behaviours distinct from the ramp-plateau behaviour of random matrix theory. Lastly, we study the DSFF of Lindbladians with the Hamiltonian term set to zero, i.e. only the jump operators are present, and demonstrate that the results of RMT universality and scaling of many-body Thouless time survive even without coherent evolution.

arXiv:2405.01641•May 2, 2024•1 citation

Quantum chaos in the sparse SYK model

Patrick Orman, Hrant Gharibyan, John P. Preskill

A bstract The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model is a system of N Majorana fermions with random interactions and strongly chaotic dynamics, which at low energy admits a holographically dual description as two-dimensional Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. Hence the SYK model provides a toy model of quantum gravity that might be feasible to simulate with near-term quantum hardware. Motivated by the goal of reducing the resources needed for such a simulation, we study a sparsified version of the SYK model, in which interaction terms are deleted with probability 1 −p . Specifically, we compute numerically the spectral form factor (SFF, the Fourier transform of the Hamiltonian’s eigenvalue pair correlation function) and the nearest-neighbor eigenvalue gap ratio r (characterizing the distribution of gaps between consecutive eigenvalues). We find that when p is greater than a transition value p 1 , which scales as 1/ N 3 , both the SFF and r match the values attained by the full unsparsified model and with expectations from random matrix theory (RMT). But for p < p 1 , deviations from unsparsified SYK and RMT occur, indicating a breakdown of holography in the highly sparsified regime. Below an even smaller value p 2 , which also scales as 1/ N 3 , even the spacing of consecutive eigenvalues differs from RMT values, signaling a complete breakdown of spectral rigidity. Our results cast doubt on the holographic interpretation of very highly sparsified SYK models obtained via machine learning using teleportation infidelity as a loss function.

arXiv:2403.13884•Journal of High Energy Physics•Feb 26, 2025•21 citations

Chaos and random matrices in supersymmetric SYK

Nicholas Hunter-Jones

We use random matrix theory to explore late-time chaos in supersymmetric quantum mechanical systems. Motivated by the recent study of supersymmetric SYK models and their random matrix classification, we consider the Wishart-Laguerre unitary ensemble and compute the spectral form factors and frame potentials to quantify chaos and randomness. Compared to the Gaussian ensembles, we observe the absence of a dip regime in the form factor and a slower approach to Haar-random dynamics. Here we find agreement between our random matrix analysis and predictions from the supersymmetric SYK model, and discuss the implications for supersymmetric chaotic systems.

•Jun 29, 2023•27 citations
Abstract We study the onset of RMT dynamics in the mass-deformed SYK model (i.e. an SYK model deformed by a quadratic random interaction) in terms of the strength of the quadratic deformation. We use as chaos probes both the connected unfolded Spectral Form Factor (SFF) as well as the Gaussian-filtered SFF, which has been recently introduced in the literature. We show that they detect the chaotic/integrable transition of the mass-deformed SYK model at different values of the mass deformation: the Gaussian-filtered SFF sees the transition for large values of the mass deformation; the connected unfolded SFF sees the transition at small values. The latter shows a closer agreement with the transition as seen by the OTOCs. We argue that the chaotic/integrable deformation affects the energy levels inhomogeneously: for small values of the mass deformation only the low-lying states are modified while for large values of the mass deformation also the states in the bulk of the spectrum move to the integrable behavior.
Quantum chaos, scrambling and operator growth in TT‾ T\overline{T} TT deformed SYK models
Abstract In this work, we investigate the quantum chaos in various TT‾ T\overline{T} TT T T ¯ -deformed SYK models with finite N, including the SYK4, the supersymmetric SYK4, and the SYK2 models. We numerically study the evolution of the spectral form factor (SFF), the out-of-time ordered correlator (OTOC), and the Krylov complexity. We find that the characteristic evolution of the SFF, OTOC and K-complexity of both the SYK4 and SSYK4 models remains unchanged under the deformation, which implies that the properties of quantum chaos is preserved. We also identify a many-body localization behavior in the deformed SYK2 model.
Abstract We study the SYK 2 model of N Majorana fermions with random quadratic interactions through a detailed spectral analysis and by coupling the model to two- and four-point sources. In particular, we define the generalized spectral form factor (SFF) and level spacing distribution function by generalizing from the partition function to the generating function. For N = 2, we obtain an exact solution of the generalized SFF. It exhibits qualitatively similar behavior to the higher N case with a source term. The exact solution helps understand the behavior of the generalized SFF. We calculate the generalized level spacing distribution function and the mean value of the adjacent gap ratio defined by the generating function. For the SYK 2 model with a four-point source term, we find a Gaussian unitary ensemble behavior in the near-integrable region of the theory, which indicates a transition to chaos. This behavior is confirmed by the connected part of the generalized SFF with an unfolded spectrum. The departure from this Gaussian random matrix behavior as the relative strength of the source term is increased is consistent with the observation that the four-point source term alone, without the SYK 2 couplings turned on, exhibits an integrable spectrum from the SFF and level spacing distribution function in the large N limit.
A bstract We study a version of the 2-body Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK 2 ) model whose complex fermions exhibit twisted boundary conditions on the thermal circle. As we show, this is physically equivalent to coupling the fermions to a 1-dimensional external gauge field A ( t ). In the latter formulation, the gauge field itself can be thought of as arising from a radial symmetry reduction of a (2 + 1)-dimensional Chern-Simons gauge field A μ ( t, x ). Using the diagnostic tools of the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) and spectral form factor (SFF), which probe the sensitivity to initial conditions and the spectral statistics respectively, we give a detailed and pedagogical study of the integrable/chaotic properties of the model. We find that the twisting has no effect on the OTOCs and, by extension, the early-time chaos properties of the model. It does, however, have two notable effects on the spectral form factor; an enhancement of the early-time slope and the emergence of an explicit twisting-dependent timescale needed for the manifestation of zero modes. These zero modes are responsible for the late-time exponential ramp in the quadratic SYK model.
We numerically study the spectral statistics of open quantum many-body systems (OQMBS) as signatures of quantum chaos (or the lack thereof), using the dissipative spectral form factor (DSFF), a generalization of the spectral form factor to complex spectra. We show that the DSFF of chaotic OQMBS generically displays the quadratic\textit{quadratic}quadratic ramp-plateau behaviour of the Ginibre ensemble from random matrix theory, in contrast to the linear ramp-plateau behaviour of the Gaussian ensemble in closed quantum systems. Furthermore, in the presence of many-body interactions, such RMT behaviour emerges only after a time scale τdevτ_{\mathrm{dev}}τdev​, which generally increases with system size for sufficiently large system size, and can be identified as the non-Hermitian analogue of the many-body Thouless time\textit{many-body Thouless time}many-body Thouless time. The universality of the random matrix theory behavior is demonstrated by surveying twelve models of OQMBS, including random Kraus circuits (quantum channels) and random Lindbladians (Liouvillians) in several symmetry classes, as well as Lindbladians of paradigmatic models such as the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK), XXZ, and the transverse field Ising models. We devise an unfolding and filtering procedure to remove variations of the averaged density of states which would otherwise hide the universal RMT-like signatures in the DSFF for chaotic OQMBS. Beyond chaotic OQMBS, we study the spectral statistics of non-chaotic OQMBS, specifically the integrable XX model and a system in the many-body localized (MBL) regime in the presence of dissipation, which exhibit DSFF behaviours distinct from the ramp-plateau behaviour of random matrix theory. Lastly, we study the DSFF of Lindbladians with the Hamiltonian term set to zero, i.e. only the jump operators are present, and demonstrate that the results of RMT universality and scaling of many-body Thouless time survive even without coherent evolution.
A bstract The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model is a system of N Majorana fermions with random interactions and strongly chaotic dynamics, which at low energy admits a holographically dual description as two-dimensional Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. Hence the SYK model provides a toy model of quantum gravity that might be feasible to simulate with near-term quantum hardware. Motivated by the goal of reducing the resources needed for such a simulation, we study a sparsified version of the SYK model, in which interaction terms are deleted with probability 1 −p . Specifically, we compute numerically the spectral form factor (SFF, the Fourier transform of the Hamiltonian’s eigenvalue pair correlation function) and the nearest-neighbor eigenvalue gap ratio r (characterizing the distribution of gaps between consecutive eigenvalues). We find that when p is greater than a transition value p 1 , which scales as 1/ N 3 , both the SFF and r match the values attained by the full unsparsified model and with expectations from random matrix theory (RMT). But for p < p 1 , deviations from unsparsified SYK and RMT occur, indicating a breakdown of holography in the highly sparsified regime. Below an even smaller value p 2 , which also scales as 1/ N 3 , even the spacing of consecutive eigenvalues differs from RMT values, signaling a complete breakdown of spectral rigidity. Our results cast doubt on the holographic interpretation of very highly sparsified SYK models obtained via machine learning using teleportation infidelity as a loss function.
We use random matrix theory to explore late-time chaos in supersymmetric quantum mechanical systems. Motivated by the recent study of supersymmetric SYK models and their random matrix classification, we consider the Wishart-Laguerre unitary ensemble and compute the spectral form factors and frame potentials to quantify chaos and randomness. Compared to the Gaussian ensembles, we observe the absence of a dip regime in the form factor and a slower approach to Haar-random dynamics. Here we find agreement between our random matrix analysis and predictions from the supersymmetric SYK model, and discuss the implications for supersymmetric chaotic systems.