Quantum chaos is a quantum many-body phenomenon that is associated with a number of intricate properties, such as level repulsion in energy spectra or distinct scalings of out-of-time ordered correlation functions. In this work, we introduce a novel class of "pseudochaotic" quantum Hamiltonians that fundamentally challenges the conventional understanding of quantum chaos and its relationship to computational complexity. Our ensemble is computationally indistinguishable from the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) of strongly-interacting Hamiltonians, widely considered to be a quintessential model for quantum chaos. Surprisingly, despite this effective indistinguishability, our Hamiltonians lack all conventional signatures of chaos: it exhibits Poissonian level statistics, low operator complexity, and weak scrambling properties. This stark contrast between efficient computational indistinguishability and traditional chaos indicators calls into question fundamental assumptions about the nature of quantum chaos. We, furthermore, give an efficient quantum algorithm to simulate Hamiltonians from our ensemble, even though simulating Hamiltonians from the true GUE is known to require exponential time. Our work establishes fundamental limitations on Hamiltonian learning and testing protocols and derives stronger bounds on entanglement and magic state distillation. These results reveal a surprising separation between computational and information-theoretic perspectives on quantum chaos, opening new avenues for research at the intersection of quantum chaos, computational complexity, and quantum information. Above all, it challenges conventional notions of what it fundamentally means to actually observe complex quantum systems.
Quantum chaos is a quantum many-body phenomenon that is associated with a number of intricate properties, such as level repulsion in energy spectra or distinct scalings of out-of-time ordered correlation functions. In this work, we introduce a novel class of "pseudochaotic" quantum Hamiltonians that fundamentally challenges the conventional understanding of quantum chaos and its relationship to computational complexity. Our ensemble is computationally indistinguishable from the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) of strongly-interacting Hamiltonians, widely considered to be a quintessential model for quantum chaos. Surprisingly, despite this effective indistinguishability, our Hamiltonians lack all conventional signatures of chaos: it exhibits Poissonian level statistics, low operator complexity, and weak scrambling properties. This stark contrast between efficient computational indistinguishability and traditional chaos indicators calls into question fundamental assumptions about the nature of quantum chaos. We, furthermore, give an efficient quantum algorithm to simulate Hamiltonians from our ensemble, even though simulating Hamiltonians from the true GUE is known to require exponential time. Our work establishes fundamental limitations on Hamiltonian learning and testing protocols and derives stronger bounds on entanglement and magic state distillation. These results reveal a surprising separation between computational and information-theoretic perspectives on quantum chaos, opening new avenues for research at the intersection of quantum chaos, computational complexity, and quantum information. Above all, it challenges conventional notions of what it fundamentally means to actually observe complex quantum systems.
Quantum chaos is central to understanding quantum dynamics and is crucial for generating random quantum states, a key resource for quantum information tasks. In this work, we introduce a new class of quantum many-body dynamics, termed pseudochaotic dynamics. Although distinct from chaotic dynamics, out-of-time-ordered correlators, the key indicators of quantum chaos, fail to distinguish them. Moreover, pseudochaotic dynamics generates pseudorandom states that are computationally indistinguishable from Haar-random states. We construct pseudochaotic dynamics by embedding a smaller k-qubit subsystem into a larger n-qubit system. We demonstrate that a subsystem of size k=ω(logn) is sufficient to induce pseudochaotic behavior in the entire n-qubit system. Furthermore, we construct a quantum circuit exhibiting pseudochaotic dynamics and demonstrate that it generates pseudorandom states within polylog(n) depth. In summary, our results constitute the discovery of new quantum dynamics that are computationally indistinguishable from genuine quantum chaos, which provides efficient routes to generate useful pseudorandom states. Recent work introduced pseudorandom quantum states, indistinguishable from truly random states by any polynomial-time algorithm. Here the authors propose pseudochaotic many-body dynamics, which is indistinguishable from chaotic dynamics and can generate pseudorandom states using polylogarithmic-depth circuits.
Quantum chaos entails an entropic and computational obstruction to describing a system and thus is intrinsically difficult to characterize. An understanding of quantum chaos is fundamentally related to the mechanism of thermalization in many-body systems and the quantum nature of black holes. In this thesis we adopt the view that quantum information theory provides a powerful framework in which to elucidate chaos in strongly-interacting quantum systems. We first push towards a more precise understanding of chaotic dynamics by relating different diagnostics of chaos, studying the time-evolution of random matrix Hamiltonians, and quantifying random matrix behavior in physical systems. We derive relations between out-of-time ordered correlation functions, spectral quantities, and frame potentials to relate the scrambling of quantum information, decay of correlators, and Haar-randomness. We give analytic expressions for these quantities in random matrix theory to explore universal aspects of late-time dynamics. Motivated by our random matrix results, we define k-invariance in order to capture the onset of random matrix behavior in physical systems. We then refine our diagnostics in order to study chaotic systems with symmetry by considering Haar-randomness with respect to quotients of the unitary group, and in doing so we generalize our quantum information machinery. We further consider extended random matrix ensembles in the context of strongly-interacting quantum systems dual to black holes. Lastly, we study operator growth in classes of random quantum circuits.
How classical chaos emerges from the underlying quantum world is a fundamental problem in physics. The origin of this question is in the correspondence principle. Classical chaos arises due to non-linear dynamics, whereas quantum mechanics, driven by unitary evolution, is linear. The question that still remains is - what are the footprints of classical chaos in the quantum world? One can understand the quantum signatures of classical chaos by studying a quantum system whose classical analogue is chaotic. In this thesis, we use the quantum kicked top model of few qubits in the deep quantum regime to investigate signatures that can be considered as a precursor to chaos in the classical limit. In particular, we study out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) and Loschmidt echo, the two well-known dynamical diagnostics of chaos. We find vestiges of classical chaos even in such a deep quantum regime. Another arena where one can study the effects of chaos and randomness is quantum state tomography. We study quantum tomography from a continuous measurement record obtained by measuring expectation values of a set of Hermitian operators generated by a unitary evolution of an initial observable. The rate of information gain and reconstruction fidelity shows vestiges of chaos. As another contribution of this thesis, we have harnessed the power of randomness inherent in the maximally mixed state to give an efficient quantum algorithm to measure OTOCs. The protocol achieves an exponential speedup over the best known classical algorithm, provided the OTOC operator to be estimated admits an efficient gate decomposition. This protocol also helps benchmark unitary gates, which is important from the quantum computation and control perspective.
This paper reviews recent work related to the interplay between quantum information and computation on the one hand and classical and quantum chaos on the other. First, we present several models of quantum chaos that can be simulated efficiently on a quantum computer. Then a discussion of information extraction shows that such models can give rise to complete algorithms including measurements that can achieve an increase in speed compared with classical computation. It is also shown that models of classical chaos can be simulated efficiently on a quantum computer, and again information can be extracted efficiently from the final wave function. The total gain can be exponential or polynomial, depending on the model chosen and the observable measured. The simulation of such systems is also economical in the number of qubits, allowing implementation on present-day quantum computers, some of these algorithms having been already experimentally implemented. The second topic considered concerns the analysis of errors on quantum computers. It is shown that quantum chaos algorithms can be used to explore the effect of errors on quantum algorithms, such as random unitary errors or dissipative errors. Furthermore, the tools of quantum chaos allows a direct analysis of the effects of static errors on quantum computers. Finally, we consider the different resources used by quantum information, and show that quantum chaos has some precise consequences on entanglement generation, which becomes close to maximal. For another resource, interference, a proposal is presented for quantifying it, enabling a discussion on entanglement and interference generation in quantum algorithms.
Quantum chaos concerns the emergence of universal statistical and dynamical prop- erties in quantum systems whose classical counterparts exhibit chaotic behavior. Unlike classical chaos, which can be characterized by sensitivity to initial conditions and exponential divergence of trajectories, quantum chaos manifests itself through a variety of indirect diagnostics, including spectral correlations, operator growth, and information scrambling. Understanding how these signatures arise from microscopic dynamics, and how they can be accessed in realistic many-body systems, is a central challenge in modern physics. This thesis investigates quantum chaos from complementary theoretical and practical perspectives. On the theoretical side, it develops effective descriptions of chaotic dy- namics in many-body systems with approximate symmetries, focusing on how weak symmetry breaking controls the exploration of Hilbert space and the crossover to random-matrix universality. Using perturbative arguments, numerical simulations, and a nonlinear sigma-model formulation, we identify a regime of Hilbert-space dif- fusion in which chaotic dynamics unfolds through a slow, collective spreading across nearly decoupled symmetry sectors. On the practical side, the thesis addresses the question of how paradigmatic chaotic models can be realized and probed in controlled experimental platforms. In partic- ular, it explores quantum simulation schemes for Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) models using cavity quantum electrodynamics. By employing time-dependent disorder and Trotterized evolution in single-mode optical cavities, we demonstrate how low-rank interactions can be systematically promoted to effective all-to-all randomness, re- producing the spectral and dynamical signatures of SYK physics. Extensions to open-system dynamics are discussed, including Lindbladian realizations and the role of dissipation. The thesis thus highlights the connections between effective descriptions of quantum chaos and their implementation in controlled quantum simulation settings.
A bstract We investigate minimal two-body Hamiltonians with random interactions that generate spectra resembling those of Gaussian random matrices, a phenomenon we term quadratic quantum chaos . Unlike integrable two-body fermionic systems, the corresponding hard-core boson models exhibit genuinely chaotic dynamics, closely paralleling the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model in its spin representation. This chaotic behavior is diagnosed through spectral statistics and measures of operator growth, including Krylov complexity and the late-time decay of higher-order out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs); the latter reveals the emergence of freeness in the sense of free probability. Moreover, the fractal dimension and Stabilizer Rényi entropy of a representative mid-spectrum eigenstate show finite-size deviations yet converge toward Haar-randomness as the system size increases. This convergence, constrained by local interactions, highlights the “weakly chaotic” character of these eigenstates. Owing to their simplicity and bosonic nature, these minimal models may constitute promising and resource-efficient candidates for probing quantum chaos and information scrambling on near-term quantum devices.