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arXiv:2511.01978 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Single-sided black holes in double-scaled SYK model and no man’s island

Xuchen Cao, Ping Gao

Published Jul 10, 2026• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A bstract We study a single-sided black hole with an end-of-the-world (EoW) brane behind the horizon in the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK). The new Hamiltonian is a deformation of the original DSSYK Hamiltonian with an extra exponential wormhole length operator, which leads to a new chord diagram rule. The boundary algebra is defined as generated by the new Hamiltonian and boundary matter. There is an alternative but equivalent definition with a q -coherent state due to a nontrivial isomorphism of the vN algebra of DSSYK. This isomorphism induces a unitary equivalence, which yields a surprising result that the boundary algebra of a single-sided black hole in DSSYK has a non-trivial commutant and is a type II 1 vN factor. It follows that the full bulk reconstruction from the boundary is impossible, and there is a “no man’s island” behind the horizon in the semiclassical JT limit. Inspired by the EoW brane, we construct a family of matter-brane states with an arbitrary number of matter chords and behaving like an EoW brane. They exactly solve the full spectrum of DSSYK. We take different ways to understand the nontrivial commutant. We argue that the commutant is complex on chord number basis and thus non-geometric. In the semiclassical JT limit, the commutant becomes the canonical purification of the boundary algebra and claims the no man’s island. In the context of Hawking radiation after Page time, the unitary equivalence is interpreted as encoding the canonical purification into the old Hawking radiation, and the no man’s island has the same essence as the island. Including the exponential wormhole length operator independently, the boundary algebra is extended to all bounded operators and reconstructs the no man’s island. This can be regarded as a different choice for the definition of boundary algebra. This type I ∞ algebra is closely related to the EoW brane in Kourkoulou-Maldacena.

DOI
10.1007/jhep07(2026)104

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A bstract We study a single-sided black hole with an end-of-the-world (EoW) brane behind the horizon in the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK). The new Hamiltonian is a deformation of the original DSSYK Hamiltonian with an extra exponential wormhole length operator, which leads to a new chord diagram rule. The boundary algebra is defined as generated by the new Hamiltonian and boundary matter. There is an alternative but equivalent definition with a q -coherent state due to a nontrivial isomorphism of the vN algebra of DSSYK. This isomorphism induces a unitary equivalence, which yields a surprising result that the boundary algebra of a single-sided black hole in DSSYK has a non-trivial commutant and is a type II 1 vN factor. It follows that the full bulk reconstruction from the boundary is impossible, and there is a “no man’s island” behind the horizon in the semiclassical JT limit. Inspired by the EoW brane, we construct a family of matter-brane states with an arbitrary number of matter chords and behaving like an EoW brane. They exactly solve the full spectrum of DSSYK. We take different ways to understand the nontrivial commutant. We argue that the commutant is complex on chord number basis and thus non-geometric. In the semiclassical JT limit, the commutant becomes the canonical purification of the boundary algebra and claims the no man’s island. In the context of Hawking radiation after Page time, the unitary equivalence is interpreted as encoding the canonical purification into the old Hawking radiation, and the no man’s island has the same essence as the island. Including the exponential wormhole length operator independently, the boundary algebra is extended to all bounded operators and reconstructs the no man’s island. This can be regarded as a different choice for the definition of boundary algebra. This type I ∞ algebra is closely related to the EoW brane in Kourkoulou-Maldacena.
A bstract Recent work has emphasized a subtlety of large- N limits in AdS/CFT: a sequence of pure states in the microscopic theory need not remain pure with respect to the emergent algebra of observables. We study this phenomenon for Kourkoulou-Maldacena (KM) states in the double-scaling limit of the SYK model, and show that their ensemble-averaged algebraic description depends crucially on which observables are retained in the limit. For fermionic operators of size p ∼ N 1/2 , generic operators converge to the usual chord operators of double-scaled SYK. The resulting von Neumann algebra is the standard Type II 1 factor, and the KM pure states at infinite temperature converge to the tracial state, so generic probes lose access to microscopic purity. We then identify a class of operators adapted to the KM state that also survive the double-scaling limit. Since the KM state may be viewed as a projection inside the tracial state, these operators become dressed chord creation and annihilation operators, with the dressing encoding the distance to the KM state through the bulk. Once included, the limiting algebra becomes Type I ∞ and the sequence of KM states converges to a pure state. This provides a solvable example in which adding a sufficiently state-adapted operator to the emergent algebra restores access to the purity of the underlying state. We derive exact modified chord-diagram rules for correlators of the dressed operators, including general uncrossed 2 n -point functions and crossed four-point functions. In the semi-classical limit these correlators exhibit a novel factorization pattern, while in the Schwarzian limit they reduce to correlators of boundary primaries dressed to Schwarzian modes. We also study a deformation of the chord Hamiltonian, the emergence of bound states above a critical coupling, and its relation to JT gravity coupled to an EOW brane of general tension. We identify an emergent U (1) global symmetry in the Type I ∞ algebra as well as its violation by 1 /N corrections from double-trace wormholes. Finally, we discuss analogies with boundary algebras proposed for black hole interiors and closed universes, and suggest lessons from our construction for both.
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We study the properties of the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) model under chord Hamiltonian deformations based on finite cutoff holography for general dilaton gravity theories with Dirichlet boundaries. The formalism immediately incorporates a lower-dimensional analog of TTˉ(+Λ2)\text{T}\bar{\text{T}}(+Λ_2)TTˉ(+Λ2​) deformations, denoted T2(+Λ1)T^2(+Λ_1)T2(+Λ1​), as special cases. In general, the deformation mixes the chord basis of the Hilbert space in the seed theory, which we order through the Lanczos algorithm. The resulting Krylov complexity for the Hartle-Hawking state represents a wormhole length at a finite cutoff in the bulk. We study the thermodynamic properties of the deformed theory; the growth of Krylov complexity; the evolution of nnn-point correlation functions with matter chords; and the entanglement entropy between the double-scaled algebras of the DSSYK model for a given chord state. The latter, in the triple-scaling limit, manifests as the minimal codimension-two area in the bulk following the Ryu-Takayanagi formula. By performing a sequence of T2T^2T2 and T2+Λ1T^2+Λ_1T2+Λ1​ deformations in the upper tail of the energy spectrum in the deformed DSSYK, we concretely realize the cosmological stretched horizon proposal in de Sitter holography by Susskind. We discuss other extensions with sine dilaton gravity, end-of-the-world branes, and the Almheiri-Goel-Hu model.
We construct families of deformations of the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) model and investigate their bulk interpretation. We introduce microscopic deformations of the SYK model which, after ensemble averaging and in the double-scaling limit, are described by a transfer matrix encoding the recurrence relations of basic orthogonal polynomials in the q-Askey scheme. For certain families of deformations in the semiclassical limit at finite temperature, the chord number (encoding Krylov complexity) corresponds to the length of an Einstein-Rosen bridge connecting an End-Of-The-World brane to an anti-de Sitter asymptotic boundary. By increasing one of the deformation parameters, the models eventually exhibit discrete energy levels, signaling a new geometric transition in sine dilaton gravity. Via the SYK-Schur duality, Krylov complexity also admits a representation-theoretic interpretation as the spread of the SU(2) spin in the index of an N=2\mathcal{N}=2N=2 SU(2) gauge theory. We study the operator algebras of the deformed theories. The algebras can be type II1_11​ or type I∞_\infty∞​ factors, depending on the operators that are included. The entanglement entropy between the type II1_11​ algebras for a pure state manifests as an extremal surface through the Ryu-Takayanagi formula. We discuss connections between our results and the emergence of baby universes in the bulk.
The double-scaled limit of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model takes the number of fermions and their interaction number to infinity in a coordinated way. In this limit, two entangled copies of the SYK model have a bulk description of sorts known as the “chord Hilbert space”. We analyze a symmetry algebra acting on this Hilbert space, generated by the two Hamiltonians together with a two-sided operator known as the chord number. This algebra is a deformation of the JT gravitational algebra, and it contains a subalgebra that is a deformation of the \mathfrak{sl}_2 𝔰 𝔩 2 near-horizon symmetries. The subalgebra has finite-dimensional unitary representations corresponding to matter moving around in a discrete Einstein-Rosen bridge. In a semiclassical limit the discreteness disappears and the subalgebra simplifies to \mathfrak{sl}_2 𝔰 𝔩 2 , but with a non-standard action on the boundary time coordinate. One can make the action of \mathfrak{sl}_2 𝔰 𝔩 2 algebra more standard at the cost of extending the boundary circle to include some “fake” portions. Such fake portions also accommodate certain subtle states that survive the semi-classical limit, despite oscillating on the scale of discreteness. We discuss applications of this algebra, including sub-maximal chaos, the traversable wormhole protocol, and a two-sided OPE.
A bstract In holography, gauging symmetries of the boundary theory leads to important modifications in the bulk. In this work, we study constraints to gauge symmetry sectors in the chord Hilbert space of the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) with matter, and we connect them to different proposals of its bulk dual. These sectors include chord parity symmetry, corresponding to End-Of-The-World (ETW) branes and Euclidean wormholes in sine dilaton gravity; and relative time-translations in a doubled DSSYK model (resulting from a single DSSYK with an infinitely heavy matter chord) used in de Sitter holography. We define and evaluate partition functions and thermal correlation functions of the ETW brane and Euclidean wormhole systems in the boundary theory. We deduce the holographic dictionary by matching geodesic lengths in the bulk with the spread complexity of the parity-gauged DSSYK. The Euclidean wormholes of fixed size are perturbatively stable, and their baby universe Hilbert space is non-trivial only when matter is added. We conclude studying the constraints in the path integral of the doubled DSSYK. We derive the gauge invariant operator algebra of one of the DSSYKs dressed to the other one and discuss its holographic interpretation.