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arXiv:2008.00046 · Physical review. E

Relevant out-of-time-order correlator operators: Footprints of the classical dynamics

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

Published Nov 30, 2020• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.102.052133

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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.
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.
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.
We study operator growth in a bipartite kicked coupled tops (KCTs) system using out-of-time ordered correlators (OTOCs), which quantify "information scrambling" due to chaotic dynamics and serve as a quantum analog of classical Lyapunov exponents. In the KCT system, chaos arises from the hyper-fine coupling between the spins. Due to a conservation law, the system's dynamics decompose into distinct invariant subspaces. Focusing initially on the largest subspace, we numerically verify that the OTOC growth rate aligns well with the classical Lyapunov exponent for fully chaotic dynamics. While previous studies have largely focused on scrambling in fully chaotic dynamics, works on mixed-phase space scrambling are sparse. We explore scrambling behavior in both mixed-phase space and globally chaotic dynamics. In the mixed-phase space, we use Percival's conjecture to partition the eigenstates of the Floquet map into "regular" and "chaotic." Using these states as the initial states, we examine how their mean phase space locations affect the growth and saturation of the OTOCs. Beyond the largest subspace, we study the OTOCs across the entire system, including all other smaller subspaces. For certain initial operators, we analytically derive the OTOC saturation using random matrix theory (RMT). When the initial operators are chosen randomly from the unitarily invariant random matrix ensembles, the averaged OTOC relates to the linear entanglement entropy of the Floquet operator, as found in earlier works. For the diagonal Gaussian initial operators, we provide a simple expression for the OTOC.
In classical dynamical systems, chaotic behavior is often associated with exponential sensitivity to initial conditions together with global phase-space structure. Translating this geometric concept to the strictly linear framework of quantum mechanics presents a conceptual puzzle. The out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) is often motivated as the quantum analogue of the classical butterfly effect, but this slogan can hide important mathematical distinctions. This tutorial bridges the gap between applied mathematics and quantum information by detailing the mathematical machinery of the OTOC. We explore how classical sensitivity translates to operator non-commutativity, why standard two-point correlation functions fail to cleanly detect this sensitivity, and how the delocalization of quantum observables relates to classical notions of mixing. Crucially, we outline what the OTOC can and cannot diagnose, distinguishing between local instability and global chaos. Ultimately, we provide a precise and usable conceptual map, exploring how the Koopman-von Neumann formalism offers a framework to view classical and quantum dynamics through a shared linear perspective.
In recent years, the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) has emerged as a diagnostic tool for information scrambling in quantum many-body systems. Here, we present exact analytical results for the OTOC for a typical pair of random local operators supported over two regions of a bipartition. Quite remarkably, we show that this "bipartite OTOC" is equal to the operator entanglement of the evolution, and we determine its interplay with entangling power. Furthermore, we compute long-time averages of the OTOC and reveal their connection with eigenstate entanglement. For Hamiltonian systems, we uncover a hierarchy of constraints over the structure of the spectrum and elucidate how this affects the equilibration value of the OTOC. Finally, we provide operational significance to this bipartite OTOC by unraveling intimate connections with average entropy production and scrambling of information at the level of quantum channels.
In classical dynamical systems, chaotic behavior is often associated with exponential sensitivity to initial conditions together with global phase-space structure. Translating this geometric concept to the strictly linear framework of quantum mechanics presents a conceptual puzzle. The Out-of-Time-Ordered Correlator (OTOC) is often motivated as the quantum analog of the classical butterfly effect, but this slogan can hide important mathematical distinctions. This tutorial bridges the gap between applied mathematics and quantum information by detailing the mathematical machinery of the OTOC. We explore how classical sensitivity translates to operator noncommutativity, why standard two-point correlation functions fail to cleanly detect this sensitivity, and how the delocalization of quantum observables relates to the classical notion of mixing. Crucially, we outline what the OTOC can and cannot diagnose, distinguishing between local instability and global chaos. Ultimately, we provide a precise and usable conceptual map, exploring how the Koopman–von Neumann formalism offers a framework to view classical and quantum dynamics through a shared linear perspective.