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arXiv:1904.12830 · Physical Review Research

Out-of-time ordered correlators, complexity, and entropy in bipartite systems

Pablo D. Bergamasco, Gabriel G. Carlo, Alejandro M. F. Rivas

Published Oct 23, 2019• 29 citations
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Abstract

This paper studies a bi-partite system with different dynamics finding a one-to-one correspondence between the out-of-time ordered correlators' behavior and that of the Linear Entropy, providing a link with the Wigner Separability Entropy, a complexity measure in phase space. The authors show that their behavior differs depending on the kind of dynamics of the system. The path to prove this connection is suggested by an information theoretical theorem that relates this system with the second Renyi entropy.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.1.033044

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This paper studies a bi-partite system with different dynamics finding a one-to-one correspondence between the out-of-time ordered correlators' behavior and that of the Linear Entropy, providing a link with the Wigner Separability Entropy, a complexity measure in phase space. The authors show that their behavior differs depending on the kind of dynamics of the system. The path to prove this connection is suggested by an information theoretical theorem that relates this system with the second Renyi entropy.
There is a remarkable interest in the study of out-of-time ordered correlators (OTOCs) that goes from many-body theory and high-energy physics to quantum chaos. In the latter case there is a special focus on the comparison with the traditional measures of quantum complexity such as the spectral statistics. The exponential growth has been verified for many paradigmatic maps and systems. However, less is known for multipartite cases. On the other hand, the recently introduced Wigner separability entropy (WSE) and its classical counterpart provide a complexity measure that treats equally quantum and classical distributions in phase space. We compare the behavior of these measures in a system consisting of two coupled and perturbed cat maps with different dynamics: Double hyperbolic, double elliptic, and mixed. In all cases, we find that the OTOCs and the WSE have essentially the same behavior, providing a complete characterization in generic bipartite systems and at the same time revealing them as very good measures of quantum complexity for phase-space distributions. Moreover, we establish a relation between both quantities by means of a recently proven theorem linking the second Rényi entropy and OTOCs.
The out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) has recently become relevant in different areas where it has been linked to scrambling of quantum information and entanglement. It has also been proposed as a good indicator of quantum complexity. In this sense, the OTOC-RE theorem relates the OTOCs summed over a complete basis of operators to the second Renyi entropy. Here we have studied the OTOC-RE correspondence on physically meaningful bases like the ones constructed with the Pauli, reflection, and translation operators. The evolution is given by a paradigmatic bi-partite system consisting of two perturbed and coupled Arnold cat maps with different dynamics. We show that the sum over a small set of relevant operators is enough in order to obtain a very good approximation for the entropy and, hence, to reveal the character of the dynamics. In turn, this provides us with an alternative natural indicator of complexity, i.e., the scaling of the number of relevant operators with time. When represented in phase space, each one of these sets reveals the classical dynamical footprints with different depth according to the chosen basis.
We prove a generalized fluctuation-dissipation theorem for a certain class of out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) with a modified statistical average, which we call bipartite OTOCs, for general quantum systems in thermal equilibrium. The difference between the bipartite and physical OTOCs defined by the usual statistical average is quantified by a measure of quantum fluctuations known as the Wigner-Yanase skew information. Within this difference, the theorem describes a universal relation between chaotic behavior in quantum systems and a nonlinear-response function that involves a time-reversed process. We show that the theorem can be generalized to higher-order n-partite OTOCs as well as in the form of generalized covariance.
In this paper we first compute the out-of-time-order correlators (OTOC) for both a phenomenological model and a random-field XXZ model in the many-body localized phase. We show that the OTOC decreases in power law in a many-body localized system at the scrambling time. We also find that the OTOC can also be used to distinguish a many-body localized phase from an Anderson localized phase, while a normal correlator cannot. Furthermore, we prove an exact theorem that relates the growth of the second Rényi entropy in the quench dynamics to the decay of the OTOC in equilibrium. This theorem works for a generic quantum system. We discuss various implications of this theorem.
Characterizing complexity and criticality in quantum systems requires diagnostics that are both computationally tractable and physically insightful. We apply a measure of quantum state complexity for n-qubit systems, defined as the divergence between the Shannon or von Neumann entropy of the computational basis distribution and the second-order Renyi entropy. This quantity has already been used earlier termed as structural entropy and it is particularly powerful as the Renyi entropy is directly related to state purity, linear entropy, and the inverse participation ratio, providing a clear physical grounding. While other Renyi orders could be used, the second order offers a deep and established connection to these key physical quantities. We first validate the measure in canonical noise channels, showing it peaks at the boundary between quantum and classical regimes. We then demonstrate its power in many-body physics. For systems exhibiting a many-body localization transition - including deformed random matrix ensembles and a disordered Heisenberg spin chain - the complexity measure reliably signals the crossover from integrable/localized to quantum-chaotic/ergodic phases. Crucially, the maximum complexity occurs in the non-ergodic yet extended states at the transition, precisely capturing the critical region where the system is neither fully localized nor thermalized. Furthermore, within the chaotic phase, the measure correlates with the survival probability of local excitations, revealing a spectrum of thermalization properties. Our results establish that the entropic complexity is a simple, versatile, and effective probe for identifying nontrivial quantum regimes and transitions giving a new and alternative insight into such systems.
Out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs), vigorously being explored as a measure of quantum chaos and information scrambling, is studied here in the natural and simplest multiparticle context of bipartite systems. We show that two strongly chaotic and weakly interacting subsystems display two distinct regimes in the growth of OTOCs. The first is dominated by intrasubsystem scrambling, when an exponential growth with a positive Lyapunov exponent is observed until the Ehrenfest time. This regime is essentially independent of the interaction, while the second one is an interaction dominated exponential approach to saturation that is universal and described by a random matrix model. This simple random matrix model of weakly interacting strongly chaotic bipartite systems, previously employed for studying entanglement and spectral transitions, is approximately analytically solvable for its OTOC. The example of two coupled kicked rotors is used to demonstrate the different regimes, and the extent to which the random matrix model is applicable. We remark that the second regime implies an emergent invariance of the OTOC under local unitary transformations suggesting that the rate of relaxation is connected to the entangling power of the interaction. That the two regimes correspond to delocalization in the subsystems followed by intersubsystem mixing is seen via the participation ratio in phase space. We also point out that the second, universal, regime alone exists when the observables are in a sense locally prescrambled.