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arXiv:1907.10061 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Extended eigenstate thermalization and the role of FZZT branes in the Schwarzian theory

Pranjal Nayak, Julian Sonner, Manuel Vielma

Published Mar 27, 2020• 18 citations
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Abstract

Abstract In this paper we provide a universal description of the behavior of the basic operators of the Schwarzian theory in pure states. When the pure states are energy eigenstates, expectation values of non-extensive operators are thermal. On the other hand, in coherent pure states, these same operators can exhibit ergodic or non-ergodic behavior, which is characterized by elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic monodromy of an auxiliary equation; or equivalently, which coadjoint Virasoro orbit the state lies on. These results allow us to establish an extended version of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in theories with a Schwarzian sector. We also elucidate the role of FZZT-type boundary conditions in the Schwarzian theory, shedding light on the physics of microstates associated with ZZ branes and FZZT branes in low dimensional holography.

DOI
10.1007/jhep03(2020)168

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Abstract In this paper we provide a universal description of the behavior of the basic operators of the Schwarzian theory in pure states. When the pure states are energy eigenstates, expectation values of non-extensive operators are thermal. On the other hand, in coherent pure states, these same operators can exhibit ergodic or non-ergodic behavior, which is characterized by elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic monodromy of an auxiliary equation; or equivalently, which coadjoint Virasoro orbit the state lies on. These results allow us to establish an extended version of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in theories with a Schwarzian sector. We also elucidate the role of FZZT-type boundary conditions in the Schwarzian theory, shedding light on the physics of microstates associated with ZZ branes and FZZT branes in low dimensional holography.
In this paper we provide a universal description of the behavior of the basic operators of the Schwarzian theory in pure states. When the pure states are energy eigenstates, expectation values of non-extensive operators are thermal. On the other hand, in coherent pure states, these same operators can exhibit ergodic or non-ergodic behavior, which is characterized by elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic monodromy of an auxiliary equation; or equivalently, which coadjoint Virasoro orbit the state lies on. These results allow us to establish an extended version of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in theories with a Schwarzian sector. We also elucidate the role of FZZT-type boundary conditions in the Schwarzian theory, shedding light on the physics of microstates associated with ZZ branes and FZZT branes in low dimensional holography.
Abstract We initiate a systematic study of high energy matrix elements of local operators in 2D CFT. Knowledge of these is required in order to determine whether the generalized eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) can hold in such theories. Most high energy states are high level Virasoro descendants, and by employing an oscillator representation of the Virasoro algebra we develop an efficient method for computing matrix elements of primary operators in such states. In parameter regimes where we expect (e.g. from AdS/CFT intuition) thermalization to occur, we observe striking patterns in the matrix elements: diagonal matrix elements are smoothly varying and off-diagonal elements, while nonzero, are power-law suppressed compared to the diagonal elements. We discuss the implications of these universal properties of 2D CFTs in regard to their compatibility with generalized ETH.
An isolated quantum many-body system in an initial pure state will come to thermal equilibrium if it satisfies the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH). We consider alternatives to ETH that have been proposed. We first show that von Neumann's quantum ergodic theorem relies on an assumption that is essentially equivalent to ETH. We also investigate whether, following a sudden quench, special classes of pure states can lead to thermal behavior in systems that do not obey ETH, namely, integrable systems. We find examples of this, but only for initial states that obeyed ETH before the quench.
Abstract We investigate the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) in d + 1 dimensional conformal field theories by studying the reduced density matrices in energy eigenstates. We show that if the local probes of the finitely excited primary eigenstates satisfy ETH, then any finite energy observable with support on a subsystem of finite size satisfies ETH. In two dimensions, we discover that if ETH holds locally, the finite size reduced density matrix of states created by heavy primary operators is well-approximated by a projection to the Virasoro identity block.
Via holographic duality (or ‘AdS/CFT'), the process of black hole formation and evaporation corresponds to the process of thermalization of certain (unitary) quantum field theories, evolving from non-equilibrium initial states towards thermal equilibrium. In this context, the question of how thermal a generic high-energy eigenstate looks in a theory with a holographic dual is closely tied to the question of how legitimately one may consider the dual geometry of this pure state to be a black hole. In this thesis we present some results which shed light on the nature of this relationship, through a detailed study of the dynamics of the so-called SYK model —a holographic, many-body quantum mechanical system of interacting fermions. The results indicate that this model satisfies the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, which we extend to explore its implications on certain quantum chaotic properties the SYK Hamiltonian that mirror the quantum chaotic behavior of black holes.
The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) provides a way to understand how an isolated quantum mechanical system can be approximated by a thermal density matrix. We find a class of operators in (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theories, consisting of quasiprimaries of the identity module, which satisfy the hypothesis only at the leading order in large central charge. In the context of subsystem ETH, this plays a role in the deviation of the reduced density matrices, corresponding to a finite energy density eigenstate from its hypothesized thermal approximation. The universal deviation in terms of the square of the trace-square distance goes as the eighth power of the subsystem fraction and is suppressed by powers of inverse central charge (c). Furthermore, the nonuniversal deviations from subsystem ETH are found to be proportional to the heavy-light-heavy structure constants which are typically exponentially suppressed in sqrt[h/c], where h is the conformal scaling dimension of the finite energy density state. We also examine the effects of the leading finite-size corrections.