A bstract Krylov complexity characterizes the operator growth in the quantum many-body systems or quantum field theories. The existing literatures have studied the Krylov complexity in the low temperature limit in the quantum field theories. In this paper, we extend and systematically study the Krylov complexity and Krylov entropy in a scalar field theory with general temperatures. To this end, we propose a new method to calculate the Wightman power spectrum which allows us to compute the Lanczos coefficients and subsequently to study the Krylov complexity (entropy) in general temperatures. We find that the Lanczos coefficients and Krylov complexity (entropy) in the high temperature limit will behave somewhat differently from those studies in the low temperature limit. We give an explanation of why the Krylov complexity does not oscillate in the high-temperature region. Moreover, we uncover the transition temperature that separates the oscillating and monotonic increasing behavior of Krylov complexity.
A bstract Krylov complexity characterizes the operator growth in the quantum many-body systems or quantum field theories. The existing literatures have studied the Krylov complexity in the low temperature limit in the quantum field theories. In this paper, we extend and systematically study the Krylov complexity and Krylov entropy in a scalar field theory with general temperatures. To this end, we propose a new method to calculate the Wightman power spectrum which allows us to compute the Lanczos coefficients and subsequently to study the Krylov complexity (entropy) in general temperatures. We find that the Lanczos coefficients and Krylov complexity (entropy) in the high temperature limit will behave somewhat differently from those studies in the low temperature limit. We give an explanation of why the Krylov complexity does not oscillate in the high-temperature region. Moreover, we uncover the transition temperature that separates the oscillating and monotonic increasing behavior of Krylov complexity.
Abstract We investigate various aspects of the Lanczos coefficients in a family of free Lifshitz scalar theories, characterized by their integer dynamical exponent, at finite temperature. In this non-relativistic setup, we examine the effects of mass, finite ultraviolet cutoff, and finite lattice spacing on the behavior of the Lanczos coefficients. We also investigate the effect of the dynamical exponent on the asymptotic behavior of the Lanczos coefficients, which show a universal scaling behavior. We carefully examine how these results can affect different measures in Krylov space, including Krylov complexity and entropy. Remarkably, we find that our results are similar to those previously observed in the literature for relativistic theories.
A bstract We study a notion of operator growth known as Krylov complexity in free and interacting massive scalar quantum field theories in d -dimensions at finite temperature. We consider the effects of mass, one-loop self-energy due to perturbative interactions, and finite ultraviolet cutoffs in continuous momentum space. These deformations change the behavior of Lanczos coefficients and Krylov complexity and induce effects such as the “staggering” of the former into two families, a decrease in the exponential growth rate of the latter, and transitions in their asymptotic behavior. We also discuss the relation between the existence of a mass gap and the property of staggering, and the relation between our ultraviolet cutoffs in continuous theories and lattice theories.
In the study of quantum chaos diagnostics, considerable attention has been attributed to the Krylov complexity and spectrum form factor (SFF) for systems at infinite temperature. These investigations have unveiled universal properties of quantum chaotic systems. By extending the analysis to include the finite temperature effects on the Krylov complexity and SFF, we demonstrate that the Lanczos coefficients bn, which are associated with the Wightman inner product, display consistency with the universal hypothesis presented in PRX 9, 041017 (2019). This result contrasts with the behavior of Lanczos coefficients associated with the standard inner product. Our results indicate that the slope α of the bn is bounded by πkBT, where kB is the Boltzmann constant and T the temperature. We also investigate the SFF, which characterizes the two-point correlation of the spectrum and encapsulates an indicator of ergodicity denoted by g in chaotic systems. Our analysis demonstrates that as the temperature decreases, the value of g decreases as well. Considering that α also represents the operator growth rate, we establish a quantitative relationship between ergodicity indicator and Lanczos coefficients slope. To support our findings, we provide evidence using the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble and a random spin model. Our work deepens the understanding of the finite temperature effects on Krylov complexity, SFF, and the connection between ergodicity and operator growth.
A bstract We investigate Krylov complexity of the fermion chain operator which consists of multiple Majorana fermions in the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) model with finite temperature. Using the fact that Krylov complexity is computable from two-point functions, the analysis is performed in the limit where the two-point function becomes simple and we compare the results with those of other previous studies. We confirm the exponential growth of Krylov complexity in the very low temperature regime. In general, Krylov complexity grows at most linearly at very late times in any system with a bounded energy spectrum. Therefore, we have to focus on the initial growth to see differences in the behaviors of systems or operators. Since the DSSYK model is such a bounded system, its chaotic nature can be expected to appear as the initial exponential growth of the Krylov complexity. In particular, the time at which the initial exponential growth of Krylov complexity terminates is independent of the number of degrees of freedom. More generally, and not limited to the DSSYK model, we systematically and specifically study the Lanczos coefficients and Krylov complexity using a toy power spectrum and deepen our understanding of those initial behaviors. In particular, we confirm that the overall sech-like behavior of the power spectrum shows the initial linear growth of the Lanczos coefficient, even when the energy spectrum is bounded.
A bstract We study Krylov complexity in Schrödinger field theory in the grand canonical ensemble with chemical potential μ , with an emphasis on the qualitatively new features that arise for μ > 0. In this regime the fermionic Wightman power spectrum is effectively single-sided and sharply truncated at ω = μ , which induces a crossover in the Lanczos coefficients and signals a dynamical transition from a bulk-dominated regime to a spectral-edge-dominated regime: b n displays a two-stage linear growth (from an early-time slope π/β to an asymptotic slope 2 /β ), while a n bends from near-zero values to a linear descent with slope −4 /β . We provide analytic support for the resulting complexity growth from three complementary viewpoints: (i) using an SL(2 , ℝ) algebraic construction matched to the asymptotic Lanczos data, we show that the late-time Krylov complexity must grow quadratically, K ( t ) ∝ t 2 ; (ii) by analyzing engineered Wightman spectra with controlled decay and truncation, we identify single-sided exponential decay as the key spectral feature responsible for the quadratic asymptotics, while an approximately even two-sided exponential spectrum explains the early-time K ( t ) ~ sinh 2 ( πt/β ) behavior at large μ ; (iii) we formulate the problem in terms of orthogonal polynomials and estimate the crossover scale separating the early- and late-stage regimes. Overall, our results help clarify the role of chemical potential and spectral truncation in shaping operator growth and Krylov complexity in this non-relativistic quantum field theory setting.
A bstract We investigate the Krylov complexity of Schrödinger field theories, focusing on both bosonic and fermionic systems within the grand canonical ensemble which includes a chemical potential. Krylov complexity measures operator growth in quantum systems by analyzing how operators spread within the Krylov space, a subspace of the Hilbert space spanned by successive applications of the superoperator [ H , ·] on an initial operator. Using the Lanczos algorithm, we construct an orthonormal Krylov basis and derive the Lanczos coefficients, which govern the operator connectivity and thus characterize the complexity. Our study reveals that the Lanczos coefficients { b n } are almost independent of the chemical potential, while { a n } are dependent on the chemical potential. Both { a n } and { b n } show linear relationships with respect to n . For both bosonic and fermionic systems, the Krylov complexities behave similarly over time, especially at late times, due to the analogous profiles of the squared absolute values of their autocorrelation functions | φ 0 ( t )| 2 . The Krylov complexity grows exponentially with time, but its asymptotic scaling factor λ K is significantly smaller than the twice of the slope of the { b n } coefficients, contrasting to the relativistic field theories where the scaling aligns more closely with the twice of the slope of { b n }.