We study circuit complexity for conformal field theory states in an arbitrary number of dimensions. Our circuits start from a primary state and move along a unitary representation of the Lorentzian conformal group. Different choices of distance functions can be understood in terms of the geometry of coadjoint orbits of the conformal group. We explicitly relate our circuits to timelike geodesics in anti-de Sitter space and the complexity metric to distances between these geodesics. We extend our method to circuits in other symmetry groups using a group theoretic generalization of the notion of coherent states.
We study circuit complexity for conformal field theory states in an arbitrary number of dimensions. Our circuits start from a primary state and move along a unitary representation of the Lorentzian conformal group. Different choices of distance functions can be understood in terms of the geometry of coadjoint orbits of the conformal group. We explicitly relate our circuits to timelike geodesics in anti-de Sitter space and the complexity metric to distances between these geodesics. We extend our method to circuits in other symmetry groups using a group theoretic generalization of the notion of coherent states.
A bstract Quantum complexity of conformal field theory (CFT) states has recently gained significant attention, both as a diagnostic tool in condensed matter systems and in connection with holographic observables probing black hole interiors. Previous studies have primarily focused on cases where all generators of the conformal group contribute equally to the cost of building a circuit. In this work, we present a general framework for studying the complexity of circuits in generic Lie groups, where penalty factors assign relative weights to different generators. Our approach constructs a metric on the coset space of quantum states, induced from a (pseudo-)Riemannian norm on the space of unitary circuits. The geodesics of this metric are interpreted as optimal circuits. The method builds on the formalism of (pseudo-)Riemannian submersions and connects naturally to other prescriptions in the literature, including cost function minimization along stabilizer directions and constructions based on coadjoint orbits. As a concrete application, we compute state complexity for states in one- and two-dimensional CFTs. For specific choices of penalty factors, our prescription yields a positive-definite metric with a viable interpretation as complexity; in other cases, the resulting metric is indefinite. In the viable regime, we derive analytic results when a specific penalty factor is turned off, develop perturbative expansions for small values of the penalty factors, and provide numerical results in the general case. We comment on the relation of our measure of complexity to holography.
A bstract We study circuit complexity for free fermionic field theories and Gaussian states. Our definition of circuit complexity is based on the notion of geodesic distance on the Lie group of special orthogonal transformations equipped with a right-invariant metric. After analyzing the differences and similarities to bosonic circuit complexity, we develop a comprehensive mathematical framework to compute circuit complexity between arbitrary fermionic Gaussian states. We apply this framework to the free Dirac field in four dimensions where we compute the circuit complexity of the Dirac ground state with respect to several classes of spatially unentangled reference states. Moreover, we show that our methods can also be applied to compute the complexity of excited energy eigenstates of the free Dirac field. Finally, we discuss the relation of our results to alternative approaches based on the Fubini-Study metric, the relevance to holography and possible extensions.
In this paper, we study circuit complexity for a free vector field of a [Formula: see text] gauge theory in Coulomb gauge, and Gaussian states. We introduce a quantum circuit model with Gaussian states, including reference and target states. Using Nielsen’s geometric approach, the complexity then can be found as the shortest geodesic in the space of states. This geodesic is based on the notion of geodesic distance on the Lie group of Bogoliubov transformations equipped with a right-invariant metric. We use the framework of the covariance matrix to compute circuit complexity between Gaussian states. We apply this framework to the free vector field in general dimensions where we compute the circuit complexity of the ground state of the Hamiltonian.
Recently, the notion of circuit complexity defined in symmetry group manifolds has been related to geometric actions which generally arise in the coadjoint orbit method in representation theory and play an important role in geometric quantization. On the other hand, it is known that there exists a precise relation between geometric actions and Berry phases defined in group representations. Motivated by these connections, we elaborate on a relation between circuit complexity and the group theoretic Berry phase. As the simplest setup relevant for holography, we discuss the case of two dimensional conformal field theories. In the large central charge limit, we identify the computational cost function with the Berry connection in the unitary representation of the Virasoro group. We then use the latter identification to express the Berry phase in terms of the Virasoro circuit complexity. The former can be seen as the holonomy of the Berry connection along the path in the group manifold which defines the protocol. In addition, we derive a proportionality relation between Virasoro circuit complexity and the logarithm of the inner product between a particularly chosen reference state and the prepared target state. In this sense, the logarithmic formula turns out to be approximating the complexity up to some additive constant if the building blocks of the circuit are taken to be the underlying symmetry gates. Predictions based on this formula have recently been shown to coincide with the holographic complexity proposals and the path integral optimization procedure. The found connections may therefore help to better understand such coincidences. We also discuss that our findings, put together with earlier observations, may suggest a connection between the Virasoro Berry phase and the complexity measure in the path integral optimization proposal.
A bstract The Fubini-Study metric is a central element of information geometry. We explore the role played by information geometry for determining the circuit complexity of Virasoro circuits and their deformations. To this effect, we study unitary quantum circuits generated by the Virasoro algebra and Fourier modes of a primary operator. Such primary-deformed Virasoro circuits can be realized in two-dimensional conformal field theories, where they provide models of inhomogeneous global quenches. We consider a cost function induced by the Fubini-Study metric and provide a universal expression for its time-evolution to quadratic order in the primary deformation for general source profiles. For circuits generated by the Virasoro zero mode and a primary, we obtain a non-zero cost only if spatial inhomogeneities are sufficiently large. In this case, we find that the cost saturates when the source becomes time-independent. The exact saturation value is determined by the history of the source profile. As a byproduct, returning to undeformed circuits, we relate the Fubini-Study metric to the Kähler metric on a coadjoint orbit of the Virasoro group.
Abstract We further advance the study of the notion of computational complexity for 2d CFTs based on a gate set built out of conformal symmetry transformations. Previously, it was shown that by choosing a suitable cost function, the resulting complexity functional is equivalent to geometric (group) actions on coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group, up to a term that originates from the central extension. We show that this term can be recovered by modifying the cost function, making the equivalence exact. Moreover, we generalize our approach to Kac-Moody symmetry groups, finding again an exact equivalence between complexity functionals and geometric actions. We then determine the optimal circuits for these complexity measures and calculate the corresponding costs for several examples of optimal transformations. In the Virasoro case, we find that for all choices of reference state except for the vacuum state, the complexity only measures the cost associated to phase changes, while assigning zero cost to the non-phase changing part of the transformation. For Kac-Moody groups in contrast, there do exist non-trivial optimal transformations beyond phase changes that contribute to the complexity, yielding a finite gauge invariant result. Moreover, we also show that our Virasoro complexity proposal is equivalent to the on-shell value of the Liouville action, which is a complexity functional proposed in the context of path integral optimization. This equivalence provides an interpretation for the path integral optimization proposal in terms of a gate set and reference state. Finally, we further develop a new proposal for a complexity definition for the Virasoro group that measures the cost associated to non-trivial transformations beyond phase changes. This proposal is based on a cost function given by a metric on the Lie group of conformal transformations. The minimization of the corresponding complexity functional is achieved using the Euler-Arnold method yielding the Korteweg-de Vries equation as equation of motion.