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arXiv:2402.08414 · Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

N = 2 SYK models with dynamical bosons and fermions

Francesco Benini, Tomás Reis, Saman Soltani, Ziruo Zhang

Published Jul 29, 2025• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study a class of Sachdev, Ye, and Kitaev (SYK) models with N = 2 supersymmetry, described by N fermions in chiral Fermi multiplets, as well as α N first-order bosons in chiral multiplets. The interactions are characterized by two integers ( p , q ) . We focus on the large N and low energy limit of these models. Despite the presence of dynamical bosons, we find conformal behavior akin to the standard SYK model. We use I -extremization of a Witten index to study the supersymmetric solutions. In particular, we find an exact expression for the entropy, which matches the numerical solutions to the Schwinger-Dyson equations. We further solve the model both in the large p and large p , q limits. Numerically, we verify our analytical results and obtain estimates for the Schwarzian coupling in the near zero-temperature limit. We also study the low-lying spectrum of operators to determine the parameter ranges where the Schwarzian mode dominates the IR dynamics. Lastly, we study out-of-time-ordered correlators to show that the model is maximally chaotic.

DOI
10.1103/jky3-v5dz

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We study a class of Sachdev, Ye, and Kitaev (SYK) models with N = 2 supersymmetry, described by N fermions in chiral Fermi multiplets, as well as α N first-order bosons in chiral multiplets. The interactions are characterized by two integers ( p , q ) . We focus on the large N and low energy limit of these models. Despite the presence of dynamical bosons, we find conformal behavior akin to the standard SYK model. We use I -extremization of a Witten index to study the supersymmetric solutions. In particular, we find an exact expression for the entropy, which matches the numerical solutions to the Schwinger-Dyson equations. We further solve the model both in the large p and large p , q limits. Numerically, we verify our analytical results and obtain estimates for the Schwarzian coupling in the near zero-temperature limit. We also study the low-lying spectrum of operators to determine the parameter ranges where the Schwarzian mode dominates the IR dynamics. Lastly, we study out-of-time-ordered correlators to show that the model is maximally chaotic.
We discuss a supersymmetric generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. These are quantum mechanical models involving NNN Majorana fermions. The supercharge is given by a polynomial expression in terms of the Majorana fermions with random coefficients. The Hamiltonian is the square of the supercharge. The N=1\mathcal{N}=1N=1 model with a single supercharge has unbroken supersymmetry at large NNN, but nonperturbatively spontaneously broken supersymmetry in the exact theory. We analyze the model by looking at the large NNN equation, and also by performing numerical computations for small values of NNN. We also compute the large NNN spectrum of ``singlet'' operators, where we find a structure qualitatively similar to the ordinary SYK model. We also discuss an N=2\mathcal{N}=2N=2 version. In this case, the model preserves supersymmetry in the exact theory and we can compute a suitably weighted Witten index to count the number of ground states, which agrees with the large NNN computation of the entropy. In both cases, we discuss the supersymmetric generalizations of the Schwarzian action which give the dominant effects at low energies.
Phases of N \mathcal{N} N = 2 Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models
Abstract We study N \mathcal{N} N N = 2 supersymmetric Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models with com- plex fermions at non-zero background charge. Motivated by multi-charge supersymmetric black holes, we propose a new N \mathcal{N} N N = 2 SYK model with multiple U(1) symmetries, integer charges, and a non-vanishing supersymmetric index, realizing features not present in known SYK models. In both models, a conformal solution with a super-Schwarzian mode emerges at low temperatures, signalling the appearance of nearly AdS2/BPS physics. However, in contrast to complex SYK, the fermion scaling dimension depends on the background charge in the conformal limit. For a critical charge, we find a high to low entropy phase transition in which the conformal solution ceases to be valid. This transition has a simple interpretation– the fermion scaling dimension violates the unitarity bound. We offer some comments on a holographic interpretation for supersymmetric black holes.
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.
In this thesis, we discuss the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model and tensor models with similar properties. The SYK model is a quantum field theoretical model describing N interacting fermions, whose coupling constants are drawn from a Gaussian ensemble. Noteworthy properties of the SYK model include that it is analytically solvable in the large N limit, that it exhibits conformal symmetry at low energies and that it is maximally chaotic. These properties are remarkably similar to those of a 1 + 1 dimensional Schwarzschild black hole. It has been conjectured the SYK model is a holographic dual to the black hole. We introduce a set of Feynman rules for the SYK model. Using these rules, we show that in the large N limit the diagrams that contribute to the two-point function are all so-called iterated melonic diagrams. This allows us to derive a Schwinger-Dyson equation for the two-point function, which, in turn, can be solved exactly in the infrared limit. We also consider the four-point function. In the large N limit, the leading-order correction to the four-point function is given by so-called ladder diagrams. This allows us to derive an explicit expression for the four-point function. The SYK model can be generalized in a few different ways. In this thesis, we consider the generalization where the fermions act through q-fold interactions instead of quartic interactions present in the original SYK model. In particular, considerable simplifications can be achieved in the q → ∞ limit or q = 2 case, which we study. While the SYK model has many interesting properties, its random couplings limit its usability especially as a dual to a Schwarzschild black hole. We therefore also consider tensor models which do not have this drawback but manage to preserve the interesting properties of the SYK model. In the last chapter, we briefly inspect the chaotic behaviour of the SYK and tensor models and derive Lyapunov exponent for them. It can be shown that the expression saturates an upper bound for Lyapunov exponents of a large class of quantum systems, including large N systems.
We discuss a supersymmetric generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. These are quantum mechanical models involving NNN Majorana fermions. The supercharge is given by a polynomial expression in terms of the Majorana fermions with random coefficients. The Hamiltonian is the square of the supercharge. The N=1{\cal N}=1N=1 model with a single supercharge has unbroken supersymmetry at large NNN, but non-perturbatively spontaneously broken supersymmetry in the exact theory. We analyze the model by looking at the large NNN equation, and also by performing numerical computations for small values of NNN. We also compute the large NNN spectrum of "singlet" operators, where we find a structure qualitatively similar to the ordinary SYK model. We also discuss an N=2{\cal N}=2N=2 version. In this case, the model preserves supersymmetry in the exact theory and we can compute a suitably weighted Witten index to count the number of ground states, which agrees with the large NNN computation of the entropy. In both cases, we discuss the supersymmetric generalizations of the Schwarzian action which give the dominant effects at low energies.
We present an exact solution in the large-NNN limit of the Lévy Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (LSYK) model introduced in Ref. [1], wherein the couplings are drawn from a Lévy Stable distribution parameterized by a tail exponent μ∈[0,2]μ\in [0, 2]μ∈[0,2]. Starting from the Hamiltonian and its associated partition function, we highlight the key differences from the standard Gaussian SYK model and derive the large-NNN Schwinger-Dyson equations via a bosonic oscillator representation of the action. These equations are solved both numerically and analytically in the large-qqq and infrared limits. We subsequently analyze the chaotic properties of the model by computing the Krylov exponent from the large-qqq Green's function and extracting the Lyapunov exponent from the 444-point function. The parameter μμμ continuously interpolates between a free theory at μ=0μ= 0μ=0 and the conventional, maximally chaotic Gaussian SYK model at μ=2μ= 2μ=2, with non-maximal chaos persisting throughout the intermediate regime 0<μ<20 < μ< 20<μ<2. Thermodynamic quantities, including the entropy, free energy, average energy, and specific heat capacity, are computed and compared with their Gaussian SYK counterparts. The interpretations of the thermodynamics are discussed with respect to the holographic dual and non-Fermi liquid theory. Finally, we discuss an alternative representation of the LSYK model based on a distinct decomposition of the Lévy Stable distribution, which establishes a non-trivial connection to Gaussian SYK, and provide supporting analytical and numerical results in the appendices.