Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2604.14522

Double-scaled bosonic and fermionic embedded ensembles, complex SYK, and the dual Hilbert space

Jarod Tall, Steven Tomsovic

hep-thquant-phSubmitted Apr 16, 2026• Announced Apr 17, 2026• 0 citations• Revised May 11, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Apr 16, 2026v2 · May 11, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We derive the density of states and $2$- and $4$-point functions of embedded ensembles for both fermions and bosons in the double-scaled limit. It is shown the models are equivalent to the double-scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, expanding the double-scaled universality class to include both fermionic and bosonic systems. The models can be solved by introducing the Wick product of non-commuting Gaussian random variables. We show that deriving the Wick product is sufficient for computing the density of states, and properties of the Wick product can be used to compute $n$-point functions directly in the energy basis. In this context, the Wick product is equivalent to normal ordering of $q$-oscillators, which leads to the duality between moments of double-scaled models and expectation values in the chord Hilbert space. By considering operator probes as a second set of oscillators, we extend the duality to compute $n$-point functions. Embedded ensembles are equivalent to complex SYK at fixed charge, and we show working directly with embedded ensembles streamlines the derivations.

Comments
v2: minor edits. 24 pages + appendix

Related papers

Complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model in the double scaling limit

Micha Berkooz A, Vladimir Narovlansky, Himanshu Raj

Abstract We solve for the exact energy spectrum, 2-point and 4-point functions of the complex SYK model, in the double scaling limit at all energy scales. This model has a U(1) global symmetry. The analysis shows how to incorporate a chemical potential in the chord diagram picture, and we present results for the various observables also at a given fixed charge sector. In addition to matching to the spectral asymmetry, we consider an analogous asymmetry measure of the 2-point function obeying a non-trivial dependence on the operator’s dimension. We also provide the chord diagram structure for an SYK-like model that has a U(M) global symmetry at any disorder realization. We then show how to exactly compute the effect of inserting very heavy operators, with formally infinite conformal dimension. The latter separate the gravitational spacetime into several parts connected by an interface, whose properties are exactly computable at all scales. In particular, light enough states can still go between the spaces. This behavior has a simple description in the chord diagram picture.

arXiv:2006.13983•Journal of High Energy Physics•Feb 1, 2021•31 citations

Bosonic near-CFT1 models from Fock-space fluxes

Yiyang Jia

A bstract We construct a family of near-CFT 1 models with a conserved U(1) charge, whose basic degrees of freedom are canonical bosons. The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model — the first microscopic model that realizes the near-CFT 1 dynamics — is based on random p -local interactions among fermions. However, a bosonic near-CFT 1 model has remained elusive in the p -local approach because such constructions generally suffer from unwanted orderings at low temperatures. Our construction is based on a recent insight that near-CFT 1 dynamics can quite generally arise if we place a large amount of random fluxes in a many-body Fock space and p -locality is not essential. All such models are essentially solved by chord diagrams regardless of the nature of the underlying degrees of freedom. We further argue that such bosonic models do not suffer from energetic instablities or unwanted low-temperature orderings. For comparison we also consider a second class of charge-conserving models which are based on qubits. The thermodynamic scalings of these models are very similar to those of the double-scaled complex SYK model but are free of certain singularities the latter suffers from. We also show the level statistics of both models are described by random matrix theory universality down to very low energies.

arXiv:2403.13131•Journal of High Energy Physics•Jul 18, 2024•0 citations

SYK and SYK-like Models

Pyry Kuusela

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.

Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations

Q -Laguerre spectral density and quantum chaos in the Wishart-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model

Lucas Sá, Antonio M. Garcı́a-Garcı́a

We study the Wishart-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (WSYK) model consisting of two $\stackrel{^}{q}$-body Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models with general complex couplings, one the Hermitian conjugate of the other, living in off-diagonal blocks of a larger WSYK Hamiltonian. The spectrum is positive with a hard edge at zero energy. We employ diagrammatic and combinatorial techniques to compute analytically the low-order moments of the Hamiltonian. In the limit of large number $N$ of Majoranas, we have found striking similarities with the moments of the weight function of the Al-Salam-Chihara $Q$-Laguerre polynomials. For $\stackrel{^}{q}=3$, 4, the $Q$-Laguerre prediction, with $Q=Q(\stackrel{^}{q},N)$ also computed analytically, agrees well with exact diagonalization results for $30<N\ensuremath{\le}34$ while we observe some deviations for $\stackrel{^}{q}=2$. The most salient feature of the spectral density is that, for odd $\stackrel{^}{q}$, low-energy excitations grow as a stretched exponential, with a functional form different from that of the supersymmetric SYK model. For $\stackrel{^}{q}=4$, a detailed analysis of level statistics reveals quantum chaotic dynamics even for time scales substantially shorter than the Heisenberg time. More specifically, the spacing ratios in the bulk of the spectrum and the microscopic spectral density and the number variance close to the hard edge are very well approximated by that of an ensemble of random matrices that, depending on $N$, belong to the chiral or superconducting universality classes. In particular, we report the first realization of level statistics belonging to the chiral Gaussian Unitary Ensemble universality class, which completes the tenfold-way classification in the SYK model.

arXiv:2104.07647•Physical review. D/Physical review. D.•Jan 5, 2022•12 citations

Variational wave functions for Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev models

Arijit Haldar, Omid Tavakol, Thomas Scaffidi

Given a class of q-local Hamiltonians, is it possible to find a simple variational state whose energy is a finite fraction of the ground-state energy in the thermodynamic limit?Whereas product states often provide an affirmative answer in the case of bosonic (or qubit) models, we show that Gaussian states fail dramatically in the fermionic case, such as for the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models.This prompts us to propose a new class of wave functions for SYK models inspired by the variational coupled cluster algorithm.We introduce a static "(0+0)-dimensional" large-N field theory to study the energy, two-point correlators, and entanglement properties of these states.Most importantly, we demonstrate a finite disorder-averaged approximation ratio of r ≈ 0.62 between the variational and ground-state energy of the SYK model for q = 4.Moreover, the variational states provide an exact description of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a related two-flavor SYK model.

arXiv:2009.03924•Physical Review Research•Apr 7, 2021•15 citations

Magic and Wormholes in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev Model

Valérie Bettaque, Brian Swingle

Any quantum state is fully specified by the expectation values of a complete set of Hermitian operators. For a system of Majorana fermions, such as the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, this set of observables can be taken to be all possible strings of Majorana fermion operators. The expectation values of these fermion strings in a thermal state depend erratically on the microscopic couplings that specify the SYK Hamiltonian, and we study their statistical properties directly in the thermodynamic limit using path integral techniques. When the underlying SYK Hamiltonian is chaotic, we find that these expectation values are well-modeled as real Gaussian random variables with zero mean and a variance that we compute. In contrast, for the integrable variant of SYK, we find that the expectation values are actually non-Gaussian. We then use these results to study measures of magic in the SYK thermal state, including the robustness of magic and the stabilizer Rényi entropy. We also show that our results can be quantitatively reproduced with a dual gravity calculation in the chaotic case at sufficiently low temperature. In this dual gravity model the variance of a given microscopic operator string is related to a wormhole geometry stabilized by a massive particle which is dual to the operator string. Our results thus provide a concrete and quantitative setting in which to study the relationship between randomness, wormholes and closed universes, as well as a holographic dual of quantum magic.

hep-thCross-listedarXiv:2602.12339•Feb 16, 2026•0 citations
We derive the density of states and 222- and 444-point functions of embedded ensembles for both fermions and bosons in the double-scaled limit. It is shown the models are equivalent to the double-scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, expanding the double-scaled universality class to include both fermionic and bosonic systems. The models can be solved by introducing the Wick product of non-commuting Gaussian random variables. We show that deriving the Wick product is sufficient for computing the density of states, and properties of the Wick product can be used to compute nnn-point functions directly in the energy basis. In this context, the Wick product is equivalent to normal ordering of qqq-oscillators, which leads to the duality between moments of double-scaled models and expectation values in the chord Hilbert space. By considering operator probes as a second set of oscillators, we extend the duality to compute nnn-point functions. Embedded ensembles are equivalent to complex SYK at fixed charge, and we show working directly with embedded ensembles streamlines the derivations.
Abstract We solve for the exact energy spectrum, 2-point and 4-point functions of the complex SYK model, in the double scaling limit at all energy scales. This model has a U(1) global symmetry. The analysis shows how to incorporate a chemical potential in the chord diagram picture, and we present results for the various observables also at a given fixed charge sector. In addition to matching to the spectral asymmetry, we consider an analogous asymmetry measure of the 2-point function obeying a non-trivial dependence on the operator’s dimension. We also provide the chord diagram structure for an SYK-like model that has a U(M) global symmetry at any disorder realization. We then show how to exactly compute the effect of inserting very heavy operators, with formally infinite conformal dimension. The latter separate the gravitational spacetime into several parts connected by an interface, whose properties are exactly computable at all scales. In particular, light enough states can still go between the spaces. This behavior has a simple description in the chord diagram picture.
A bstract We construct a family of near-CFT 1 models with a conserved U(1) charge, whose basic degrees of freedom are canonical bosons. The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model — the first microscopic model that realizes the near-CFT 1 dynamics — is based on random p -local interactions among fermions. However, a bosonic near-CFT 1 model has remained elusive in the p -local approach because such constructions generally suffer from unwanted orderings at low temperatures. Our construction is based on a recent insight that near-CFT 1 dynamics can quite generally arise if we place a large amount of random fluxes in a many-body Fock space and p -locality is not essential. All such models are essentially solved by chord diagrams regardless of the nature of the underlying degrees of freedom. We further argue that such bosonic models do not suffer from energetic instablities or unwanted low-temperature orderings. For comparison we also consider a second class of charge-conserving models which are based on qubits. The thermodynamic scalings of these models are very similar to those of the double-scaled complex SYK model but are free of certain singularities the latter suffers from. We also show the level statistics of both models are described by random matrix theory universality down to very low energies.
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 study the Wishart-Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (WSYK) model consisting of two $\stackrel{^}{q}$-body Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models with general complex couplings, one the Hermitian conjugate of the other, living in off-diagonal blocks of a larger WSYK Hamiltonian. The spectrum is positive with a hard edge at zero energy. We employ diagrammatic and combinatorial techniques to compute analytically the low-order moments of the Hamiltonian. In the limit of large number NNN of Majoranas, we have found striking similarities with the moments of the weight function of the Al-Salam-Chihara QQQ-Laguerre polynomials. For $\stackrel{^}{q}=3$, 4, the QQQ-Laguerre prediction, with $Q=Q(\stackrel{^}{q},N)$ also computed analytically, agrees well with exact diagonalization results for $30<N\ensuremath{\le}34$ while we observe some deviations for $\stackrel{^}{q}=2$. The most salient feature of the spectral density is that, for odd $\stackrel{^}{q}$, low-energy excitations grow as a stretched exponential, with a functional form different from that of the supersymmetric SYK model. For $\stackrel{^}{q}=4$, a detailed analysis of level statistics reveals quantum chaotic dynamics even for time scales substantially shorter than the Heisenberg time. More specifically, the spacing ratios in the bulk of the spectrum and the microscopic spectral density and the number variance close to the hard edge are very well approximated by that of an ensemble of random matrices that, depending on NNN, belong to the chiral or superconducting universality classes. In particular, we report the first realization of level statistics belonging to the chiral Gaussian Unitary Ensemble universality class, which completes the tenfold-way classification in the SYK model.
Given a class of q-local Hamiltonians, is it possible to find a simple variational state whose energy is a finite fraction of the ground-state energy in the thermodynamic limit?Whereas product states often provide an affirmative answer in the case of bosonic (or qubit) models, we show that Gaussian states fail dramatically in the fermionic case, such as for the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models.This prompts us to propose a new class of wave functions for SYK models inspired by the variational coupled cluster algorithm.We introduce a static "(0+0)-dimensional" large-N field theory to study the energy, two-point correlators, and entanglement properties of these states.Most importantly, we demonstrate a finite disorder-averaged approximation ratio of r ≈ 0.62 between the variational and ground-state energy of the SYK model for q = 4.Moreover, the variational states provide an exact description of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a related two-flavor SYK model.
Any quantum state is fully specified by the expectation values of a complete set of Hermitian operators. For a system of Majorana fermions, such as the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, this set of observables can be taken to be all possible strings of Majorana fermion operators. The expectation values of these fermion strings in a thermal state depend erratically on the microscopic couplings that specify the SYK Hamiltonian, and we study their statistical properties directly in the thermodynamic limit using path integral techniques. When the underlying SYK Hamiltonian is chaotic, we find that these expectation values are well-modeled as real Gaussian random variables with zero mean and a variance that we compute. In contrast, for the integrable variant of SYK, we find that the expectation values are actually non-Gaussian. We then use these results to study measures of magic in the SYK thermal state, including the robustness of magic and the stabilizer Rényi entropy. We also show that our results can be quantitatively reproduced with a dual gravity calculation in the chaotic case at sufficiently low temperature. In this dual gravity model the variance of a given microscopic operator string is related to a wormhole geometry stabilized by a massive particle which is dual to the operator string. Our results thus provide a concrete and quantitative setting in which to study the relationship between randomness, wormholes and closed universes, as well as a holographic dual of quantum magic.