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arXiv:2605.13956

q-Askey Deformations of Double-Scaled SYK

Sergio E. Aguilar-Gutierrez, Trivko Kukolj, Josef Seitz

hep-thgr-qcquant-phSubmitted May 13, 2026• Announced May 15, 2026
v1 · May 13, 2026v2 · Jun 23, 2026v3 · Aug 17, 2026
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Abstract

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 $\mathcal{N}=2$ SU(2) gauge theory. We study the operator algebras of the deformed theories. The algebras can be type II$_1$ or type I$_\infty$ factors, depending on the operators that are included. The entanglement entropy between the type II$_1$ 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.

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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.
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 develop a finite-cutoff holographic description of the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) model. We construct microscopic deformations of Kourkoulou-Maldacena and thermofield-double SYK states whose double-scaling limits reproduce a lower-dimensional analogue of TT‾\text{T}\overline{\text{T}}TT and TT‾+Λ2\text{T}\overline{\text{T}}+Λ_2TT+Λ2​ deformations, which we denote T2T^2T2 and T2+Λ1T^2+Λ_1T2+Λ1​, respectively. The ensemble-averaged theory describes wormhole states in finite-cutoff sine dilaton gravity, and finite-cutoff anti-de Sitter and de Sitter geometries in the low- and high-energy regimes, respectively. The analysis includes both perturbative and non-perturbative solutions to the energy spectrum flow equation, and the regions behind and beyond the respective horizons. Only the perturbative branch admits physical quantum states. We study how to incorporate end-of-the-world (ETW) branes in the finite cutoff holographic dictionary. The ETW brane leads to an additional boundary theory deformation, which leads to black hole or eternal traversable wormhole geometries depending on the existence of normalizable bound states. We extend the finite cutoff length evaluations for constant mean curvature (CMC) slices, which we interpret as complexity in the boundary theory. We discuss possible extensions with matter. Our results provide a microscopic framework for studying the finite-cutoff boundaries, CMC slices and branes in the holographic dictionary of DSSYK.
We investigate entanglement entropy between the pair of type II1_11​ algebras of the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) model given a chord state, its holographic interpretation as generalized horizon entropy; particularly in the (anti-)de Sitter ((A)dS) space limits of the bulk dual; and its connection with Krylov complexity. The density matrices in this formalism are operators in the algebras, which are specified by the choice of global state; and there exists a trace to evaluate their von Neumann entropy since the algebras are commutants of each other, which leads to a notion of algebraic entanglement entropy. We match it in triple-scaling limits to an area computed through a Ryu-Takayanagi formula in (A)dS2_22​ space with entangling surfaces at the asymptotic timelike or spacelike boundaries respectively; providing a first-principles example of holographic entanglement entropy for (A)dS2_22​ space. This result reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking and Gibbons-Hawking entropy formulas for specific entangling regions points, while it decreases for others. This construction does not display some of the puzzling features in dS holography. The entanglement entropy remains real-valued since the theory is unitary, and it depends on the Krylov spread complexity of the Hartle-Hawking state. At last, we discuss higher dimensional extensions.
Entanglement entropy in type II1_11​ von Neumann algebra: examples in Double-Scaled SYK
An intriguing feature of type II1_11​ von Neumann algebra is that the entropy of the mixed states is negative. Although the type classification of von Neumann algebra and its consequence in holography have been extensively explored recently, there has not been an explicit calculation of entropy in some physically interesting models with type II1_11​ algebra. In this paper, we study the entanglement entropy SnS_nSn​ of the fixed length state {∣n⟩}\{|n\rangle\}{∣n⟩} in Double-Scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, which has been recently shown to exhibit type II1_11​ von Neumann algebra. These states furnish an orthogonal basis for 0-particle chord Hilbert space. We systematically study SnS_nSn​ and its Rényi generalizations Sn(m)S_n^{(m)}Sn(m)​ in various limit of DSSYK model, ranging q∈[0,1]q\in[0,1]q∈[0,1]. We obtain exotic analytical expressions for the scaling behavior of Sn(m)S_n^{(m)}Sn(m)​ at large nnn for random matrix theory limit (q=0q=0q=0) and SYK2_22​ limit (q=1q=1q=1), for the former we observe highly non-flat entanglement spectrum. We then dive into triple scaling limits where the fixed chord number states become the geodesic wormholes with definite length connecting left/right AdS2_22​ boundary in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. In semi-classical regime, we match the boundary calculation of entanglement entropy with the dilaton value at the center of geodesic, as a nontrivial check of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula.
ABSTRACT 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 deformations, denoted , 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 ‐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 and 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.
A bstract We extend the notion of chord number in the strict large N double-scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (DSSYK) model to the corresponding finite N ETH matrix model. The chord number in the strict large N DSSYK model is known to correspond to the discrete length of the Einstein-Rosen bridge in the gravity dual, which reduces to the renormalized geodesic length in JT gravity at weak coupling. At finite N , these chord number states form an over-complete basis of the non-perturbative Hilbert space, as the structure of the inner product gets significantly modified due to the Cayley-Hamilton theorem: There are infinitely many null states. In this paper, by considering “EFT for gravitational observables” or a version of “non-isometric code”, we construct a family of chord number operators at finite N . While the constructed chord number operator depends on the reference chord number state, it realizes approximate q -deformed oscillator algebra and reproduces semiclassical bulk geometry around the reference state. As a special case, we will show that when the reference is chosen to be the chord number zero state, the chord number operator precisely matches with the Krylov state complexity, leading to the “ramp-slope-plateau” behavior at late times, implying the formation of “gray hole”.