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:1905.00811 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Thermodynamics and many body chaos for generalized large q SYK models

Jiaqi Jiang, Zhenbin Yang

Published Aug 1, 2019• 19 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract This paper considers a type of generalized large q SYK models which include multi-body interactions between Majorana fermions. We derive an effective action in the limit of large N and large q (with $$ \frac{q^2}{N} $$ q 2 N small), and find a universal expression for thermody-namical quantities. We also consider the chaos exponent using the retarded kernel method and find an efficient way to calculate the Lyapunov exponent for generalized large q SYK models numerically.

DOI
10.1007/jhep08(2019)019

Related papers

SYK model, chaos and conserved charge

Ritabrata Bhattacharya, Subhroneel Chakrabarti, Dileep P. Jatkar +1 more

Abstract We study the SYK model with complex fermions, in the presence of an all-to-all q-body interaction, with a non-vanishing chemical potential. We find that, in the large q limit, this model can be solved exactly and the corresponding Lyapunov exponent can be obtained semi-analytically. The resulting Lyapunov exponent is a sensitive function of the chemical potential μ. Even when the coupling J, which corresponds to the disorder averaged values of the all to all fermion interaction, is large, values of μ which are exponentially small compared to J lead to suppression of the Lyapunov exponent.

arXiv:1709.07613•Journal of High Energy Physics•Nov 1, 2017•49 citations

The chiral SYK model

Biao Lian, Shivaji L. Sondhi, Zhenbin Yang

Abstract We study the generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model to a 1 + 1 dimensional chiral SYK model of N flavors of right-moving chiral Majorana fermions with all-to-all random 4-fermion interactions. The interactions in this model are exactly marginal, leading to an exact scaling symmetry. We show the Schwinger-Dyson equation of this model in the large N limit is exactly solvable. In addition, we show this model is integrable for small N ≤ 6 by bosonization. Surprisingly, the two point function in the large N limit has exactly the same form as that for N = 4, although the four point functions of the two cases are quite different. The ground state entropy in the large N limit is the same as that of N free chiral Majorana fermions, leading to a zero ground state entropy density. The OTOC of the model in the large N limit exhibits a non-trivial spacetime structure reminscent of that found by Gu and Kitaev [1] for generic SYK-like models. Specifically we find a Lyapunov regime inside an asymmetric butterfly cone, which are signatures of quantum chaos, and that the maximal velocity dependent Lyapunov exponent approaches the chaos bound 2π/β as the interaction strength approaches its physical upper bound. Finally, the model is integrable for (at least) N ≤ 6 but chaotic in the large N limit, leading us to conjecture that there is a transition from integrability to chaos as N increases past a critical value.

arXiv:1906.03308•Journal of High Energy Physics•Sep 1, 2019•24 citations

Higher-Dimensional Fermionic SYK Model in IR Region

Xing Huang, Chen‐Te Ma

We study the 2D fermionic SYK model with Majorana fermions, featuring a quartic kinetic term and a $2q$-body interaction with Gaussian disorder. By minimizing the effective action or solving the SD equation for $q=1$, we determine that the appropriate ansatz involves zero spins. Our computation of the Lyapunov exponent shows violations of chaos and unitarity bounds. The gravitational dual corresponds to AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity with a finite radial cut-off, even if we lose the non-zero spins. We also extend the SYK model to higher dimensions while maintaining a similar SD equation in the IR.

arXiv:2502.10524•Feb 14, 2025•0 citations

Thermodynamics and dynamics of coupled complex SYK models

Jan C. Louw, Linda M. van Manen, Rishabh Jha

Abstract It has been known that the large-q complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model falls under the same universality class as that of van der Waals (mean-field) and saturates the Maldacena-Shenker-Stanford (MSS) bound, both features shared by various black holes. This makes the SYK model a useful tool in probing the fundamental nature of quantum chaos and holographic duality. This work establishes the robustness of this shared universality class and chaotic properties for SYK-like models by extending to a system of coupled large-q complex SYK models of different orders. We provide a detailed derivation of thermodynamic properties, specifically the critical exponents for an observed phase transition, as well as dynamical properties, in particular the Lyapunov exponent, via the out-of-time correlator calculations. Our analysis reveals that, despite the introduction of an additional scaling parameter through interaction strength ratios, the system undergoes a continuous phase transition at low temperatures, similar to that of the single SYK model. The critical exponents align with the Landau–Ginzburg (mean-field) universality class, shared with van der Waals gases and various AdS black holes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the coupled SYK system remains maximally chaotic in the large-q limit at low temperatures, adhering to the MSS bound, a feature consistent with the single SYK model. These findings establish robustness and open avenues for broader inquiries into the universality and chaos in complex quantum systems. We provide a detailed outlook for future work by considering the ‘very’ low-temperature regime, where we discuss relations with the Hawking–Page phase transition observed in the holographic dual black holes. We present preliminary calculations and discuss the possible follow-ups that might be taken to make the connection robust.

arXiv:2312.14644•Journal of Physics Condensed Matter•Aug 27, 2024•4 citations

A new class of SYK-like models with maximal chaos

Eric Marcus, Stefan Vandoren

Abstract We investigate a model closely related to both the original Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model and the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 supersymmetric SYK model. It consists of N real Majorana fermions and M auxiliary bosons with Yukawa interactions. We consider the large N and M limit and keep the ratio M/N fixed. The model has two branches characterized by the conformal dimensions of fields, which we compute as a function of the ratio M/N. One of the branches contains the supersymmetric saddle for M = N. As we take the limit M/N → ∞ both branches coincide and we obtain the same conformal dimensions as SYK. Furthermore, we determine the Lyapunov exponent of the model and find maximal chaos independent of M/N.

arXiv:1808.01190•Journal of High Energy Physics•Jan 1, 2019•35 citations

Tunable quantum chaos in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model coupled to a thermal bath

Yiming Chen, Hui Zhai, Pengfei Zhang

The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model describes Majorana fermions with random interaction, which displays many interesting properties such as non-Fermi liquid behavior, quantum chaos, emergent conformal symmetry and holographic duality. Here we consider a SYK model or a chain of SYK models with N Majorana fermion modes coupled to another SYK model with N 2 Majorana fermion modes, in which the latter has many more degrees of freedom and plays the role as a thermal bath. For a single SYK model coupled to the thermal bath, we show that although the Lyapunov exponent is still proportional to temperature, it monotonically decreases from 2π/β (β = 1/(k B T), T is temperature) to zero as the coupling strength to the thermal bath increases. For a chain of SYK models, when they are uniformly coupled to the thermal bath, we show that the butterfly velocity displays a crossover from a $$ \sqrt{T} $$ -dependence at relatively high temperature to a linear T-dependence at low temperature, with the crossover temperature also controlled by the coupling strength to the thermal bath. If only the end of the SYK chain is coupled to the thermal bath, the model can introduce a spatial dependence of both the Lyapunov exponent and the butterfly velocity. Our models provide canonical examples for the study of thermalization within chaotic models.

arXiv:1705.09818•Journal of High Energy Physics•Jul 1, 2017•81 citations
Abstract This paper considers a type of generalized large q SYK models which include multi-body interactions between Majorana fermions. We derive an effective action in the limit of large N and large q (with q2N\frac{q^2}{N}Nq2​ q 2 N small), and find a universal expression for thermody-namical quantities. We also consider the chaos exponent using the retarded kernel method and find an efficient way to calculate the Lyapunov exponent for generalized large q SYK models numerically.
Abstract We study the SYK model with complex fermions, in the presence of an all-to-all q-body interaction, with a non-vanishing chemical potential. We find that, in the large q limit, this model can be solved exactly and the corresponding Lyapunov exponent can be obtained semi-analytically. The resulting Lyapunov exponent is a sensitive function of the chemical potential μ. Even when the coupling J, which corresponds to the disorder averaged values of the all to all fermion interaction, is large, values of μ which are exponentially small compared to J lead to suppression of the Lyapunov exponent.
Abstract We study the generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model to a 1 + 1 dimensional chiral SYK model of N flavors of right-moving chiral Majorana fermions with all-to-all random 4-fermion interactions. The interactions in this model are exactly marginal, leading to an exact scaling symmetry. We show the Schwinger-Dyson equation of this model in the large N limit is exactly solvable. In addition, we show this model is integrable for small N ≤ 6 by bosonization. Surprisingly, the two point function in the large N limit has exactly the same form as that for N = 4, although the four point functions of the two cases are quite different. The ground state entropy in the large N limit is the same as that of N free chiral Majorana fermions, leading to a zero ground state entropy density. The OTOC of the model in the large N limit exhibits a non-trivial spacetime structure reminscent of that found by Gu and Kitaev [1] for generic SYK-like models. Specifically we find a Lyapunov regime inside an asymmetric butterfly cone, which are signatures of quantum chaos, and that the maximal velocity dependent Lyapunov exponent approaches the chaos bound 2π/β as the interaction strength approaches its physical upper bound. Finally, the model is integrable for (at least) N ≤ 6 but chaotic in the large N limit, leading us to conjecture that there is a transition from integrability to chaos as N increases past a critical value.
We study the 2D fermionic SYK model with Majorana fermions, featuring a quartic kinetic term and a 2q2q2q-body interaction with Gaussian disorder. By minimizing the effective action or solving the SD equation for q=1q=1q=1, we determine that the appropriate ansatz involves zero spins. Our computation of the Lyapunov exponent shows violations of chaos and unitarity bounds. The gravitational dual corresponds to AdS3_33​ Einstein gravity with a finite radial cut-off, even if we lose the non-zero spins. We also extend the SYK model to higher dimensions while maintaining a similar SD equation in the IR.
Abstract It has been known that the large-q complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model falls under the same universality class as that of van der Waals (mean-field) and saturates the Maldacena-Shenker-Stanford (MSS) bound, both features shared by various black holes. This makes the SYK model a useful tool in probing the fundamental nature of quantum chaos and holographic duality. This work establishes the robustness of this shared universality class and chaotic properties for SYK-like models by extending to a system of coupled large-q complex SYK models of different orders. We provide a detailed derivation of thermodynamic properties, specifically the critical exponents for an observed phase transition, as well as dynamical properties, in particular the Lyapunov exponent, via the out-of-time correlator calculations. Our analysis reveals that, despite the introduction of an additional scaling parameter through interaction strength ratios, the system undergoes a continuous phase transition at low temperatures, similar to that of the single SYK model. The critical exponents align with the Landau–Ginzburg (mean-field) universality class, shared with van der Waals gases and various AdS black holes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the coupled SYK system remains maximally chaotic in the large-q limit at low temperatures, adhering to the MSS bound, a feature consistent with the single SYK model. These findings establish robustness and open avenues for broader inquiries into the universality and chaos in complex quantum systems. We provide a detailed outlook for future work by considering the ‘very’ low-temperature regime, where we discuss relations with the Hawking–Page phase transition observed in the holographic dual black holes. We present preliminary calculations and discuss the possible follow-ups that might be taken to make the connection robust.
Abstract We investigate a model closely related to both the original Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model and the N \mathcal{N} N N = 1 supersymmetric SYK model. It consists of N real Majorana fermions and M auxiliary bosons with Yukawa interactions. We consider the large N and M limit and keep the ratio M/N fixed. The model has two branches characterized by the conformal dimensions of fields, which we compute as a function of the ratio M/N. One of the branches contains the supersymmetric saddle for M = N. As we take the limit M/N → ∞ both branches coincide and we obtain the same conformal dimensions as SYK. Furthermore, we determine the Lyapunov exponent of the model and find maximal chaos independent of M/N.
The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model describes Majorana fermions with random interaction, which displays many interesting properties such as non-Fermi liquid behavior, quantum chaos, emergent conformal symmetry and holographic duality. Here we consider a SYK model or a chain of SYK models with N Majorana fermion modes coupled to another SYK model with N 2 Majorana fermion modes, in which the latter has many more degrees of freedom and plays the role as a thermal bath. For a single SYK model coupled to the thermal bath, we show that although the Lyapunov exponent is still proportional to temperature, it monotonically decreases from 2π/β (β = 1/(k B T), T is temperature) to zero as the coupling strength to the thermal bath increases. For a chain of SYK models, when they are uniformly coupled to the thermal bath, we show that the butterfly velocity displays a crossover from a T \sqrt{T} T​ -dependence at relatively high temperature to a linear T-dependence at low temperature, with the crossover temperature also controlled by the coupling strength to the thermal bath. If only the end of the SYK chain is coupled to the thermal bath, the model can introduce a spatial dependence of both the Lyapunov exponent and the butterfly velocity. Our models provide canonical examples for the study of thermalization within chaotic models.