Abstract We investigate the time evolution of the complexity of the operator by the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model with N Majorana fermions. We follow Nielsen’s idea of complexity geometry and geodesics thereof. We show that it is possible that the bi- invariant complexity geometry can exhibit the conjectured time evolution of the complexity in chaotic systems: i) linear growth until t ∼ e N , ii) saturation and small fluctuations after then. We also show that the Lloyd’s bound is realized in this model. Interestingly, these characteristic features appear only if the complexity geometry is the most natural “non-Riemannian” Finsler geometry. This serves as a concrete example showing that the bi-invariant complexity may be a competitive candidate for the complexity in quantum mechanics/field theory (QM/QFT). We provide another argument showing a naturalness of bi-invariant complexity in QM/QFT. That is that the bi-invariance naturally implies the equivalence of the right-invariant complexity and left-invariant complexity, either of which may correspond to the complexity of a given operator. Without bi-invariance, one needs to answer why only right (left) invariant complexity corresponds to the “complexity”, instead of only left (right) invariant complexity.
Abstract We investigate the time evolution of the complexity of the operator by the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model with N Majorana fermions. We follow Nielsen’s idea of complexity geometry and geodesics thereof. We show that it is possible that the bi- invariant complexity geometry can exhibit the conjectured time evolution of the complexity in chaotic systems: i) linear growth until t ∼ e N , ii) saturation and small fluctuations after then. We also show that the Lloyd’s bound is realized in this model. Interestingly, these characteristic features appear only if the complexity geometry is the most natural “non-Riemannian” Finsler geometry. This serves as a concrete example showing that the bi-invariant complexity may be a competitive candidate for the complexity in quantum mechanics/field theory (QM/QFT). We provide another argument showing a naturalness of bi-invariant complexity in QM/QFT. That is that the bi-invariance naturally implies the equivalence of the right-invariant complexity and left-invariant complexity, either of which may correspond to the complexity of a given operator. Without bi-invariance, one needs to answer why only right (left) invariant complexity corresponds to the “complexity”, instead of only left (right) invariant complexity.
A bstract We use the SYK family of models with N Majorana fermions to study the complexity of time evolution, formulated as the shortest geodesic length on the unitary group manifold between the identity and the time evolution operator, in free, integrable, and chaotic systems. Initially, the shortest geodesic follows the time evolution trajectory, and hence complexity grows linearly in time. We study how this linear growth is eventually truncated by the appearance and accumulation of conjugate points, which signal the presence of shorter geodesics intersecting the time evolution trajectory. By explicitly locating such “shortcuts” through analytical and numerical methods, we demonstrate that: (a) in the free theory, time evolution encounters conjugate points at a polynomial time; consequently complexity growth truncates at O ( N N ), and we find an explicit operator which “fast-forwards” the free N -fermion time evolution with this complexity, (b) in a class of interacting integrable theories, the complexity is upper bounded by O (poly( N )), and (c) in chaotic theories, we argue that conjugate points do not occur until exponential times O ( e N ), after which it becomes possible to find infinitesimally nearby geodesics which approximate the time evolution operator. Finally, we explore the notion of eigenstate complexity in free, integrable, and chaotic models.
Abstract Recently it has been shown that the complexity of SU(n) operator is determined by the geodesic length in a bi-invariant Finsler geometry, which is constrained by some symmetries of quantum field theory. It is based on three axioms and one assumption regarding the complexity in continuous systems. By relaxing one axiom and an assumption, we find that the complexity formula is naturally generalized to the Schatten p-norm type. We also clarify the relation between our complexity and other works. First, we show that our results in a bi-invariant geometry are consistent with the ones in a right-invariant geometry such as k-local geometry. Here, a careful analysis of the sectional curvature is crucial. Second, we show that our complexity can concretely realize the conjectured pattern of the time-evolution of the complexity: the linear growth up to saturation time. The saturation time can be estimated by the relation between the topology and curvature of SU(n) groups.
We use the SYK family of models with N Majorana fermions to study the complexity of time evolution, formulated as the shortest geodesic length on the unitary group manifold between the identity and the time evolution operator, in free, integrable, and chaotic systems. Initially, the shortest geodesic follows the time evolution trajectory, and hence complexity grows linearly in time. We study how this linear growth is eventually truncated by the appearance and accumulation of conjugate points, which signal the presence of shorter geodesics intersecting the time evolution trajectory. By explicitly locating such “shortcuts” through analytical and numerical methods, we demonstrate that: (a) in the free theory, time evolution encounters conjugate points at a polynomial time; consequently complexity growth truncates at O(N), and we find an explicit operator which “fast-forwards” the free N-fermion time evolution with this complexity, (b) in a class of interacting integrable theories, the complexity is upper bounded by O(poly(N)), and (c) in chaotic theories, we argue that conjugate points do not occur until exponential times O(eN), after which it becomes possible to find infinitesimally nearby geodesics which approximate the time evolution operator. Finally, we explore the notion of eigenstate complexity in free, integrable, and chaotic models.
Based on general and minimal properties of the discrete circuit complexity, we define the complexity in continuous systems in a geometrical way. We first show that the Finsler metric naturally emerges in the geometry of the complexity in continuous systems. Due to fundamental symmetries of quantum field theories, the Finsler metric is more constrained and consequently, the complexity of SU( n ) operators is uniquely determined as a length of a geodesic in the Finsler geometry. Our Finsler metric is bi-invariant contrary to the right-invariance of discrete qubit systems. We clarify why the bi-invariance is relevant in quantum field theoretic systems. After comparing our results with discrete qubit systems we show most results in k -local right-invariant metric can also appear in our framework. Based on the bi-invariance of our formalism, we propose a new interpretation for the Schrödinger’s equation in isolated systems – the quantum state evolves by the process of minimizing “computational cost”.
We study the quantum complexity of time evolution in large-N chaotic systems, with the SYK model as our main example. This complexity is expected to increase linearly for exponential time prior to saturating at its maximum value, and is related to the length of minimal geodesics on the manifold of unitary operators that act on Hilbert space. Using the Euler-Arnold formalism, we demonstrate that there is always a geodesic between the identity and the time evolution operator e -iHt whose length grows linearly with time. This geodesic is minimal until there is an obstruction to its minimality, after which it can fail to be a minimum either locally or globally. We identify a criterion — the Eigenstate Complexity Hypothesis (ECH) — which bounds the overlap between offdiagonal energy eigenstate projectors and the k-local operators of the theory, and use it to argue that the linear geodesic will at least be a local minimum for exponential time. We show numerically that the large-N SYK model (which is chaotic) satisfies ECH and thus has no local obstructions to linear growth of complexity for exponential time, as expected from holographic duality. In contrast, we also study the case with N = 2 fermions (which is integrable) and find short-time linear complexity growth followed by oscillations. Our analysis relates complexity to familiar properties of physical theories like their spectra and the structure of energy eigenstates and has implications for the hypothesized computational complexity class separations PSPACE * BQP/poly and PSPACE * BQSUBEXP/subexp, and the “fast-forwarding” of quantum Hamiltonians.
We develop a geometric approach to operator growth and Krylov complexity in many-body quantum systems governed by symmetries. We start by showing a direct link between a unitary evolution with the Liouvillian and the displacement operator of appropriate generalized coherent states. This connection maps operator growth to a purely classical motion in phase space. The phase spaces are endowed with a natural information metric. We show that, in this geometry, operator growth is represented by geodesics, and Krylov complexity is proportional to a volume. This geometric perspective also provides two novel avenues toward computation of Lanczos coefficients, and it sheds new light on the origin of their maximal growth. We describe the general idea and analyze it in explicit examples, among which we reproduce known results from the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, derive operator growth based on SU(2) and Heisenberg-Weyl symmetries, and generalize the discussion to conformal field theories. Finally, we use techniques from quantum optics to study operator evolution with quantum information tools such as entanglement and Renyi entropies, negativity, fidelity, relative entropy, and capacity of entanglement.