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Real-time dynamics of matrix quantum mechanics beyond the classical approximation

P. V. Buividovich, Masanori Hanada, Andreas Schäfer A

Published Mar 26, 2018• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe a numerical method which allows to go beyond the classical approximation for the real-time dynamics of many-body systems by approximating the many-body Wigner function by the most general Gaussian function with time-dependent mean and dispersion. On a simple example of a classically chaotic system with two degrees of freedom we demonstrate that this Gaussian state approximation is accurate for significantly smaller field strengths and longer times than the classical one. Applying this approximation to matrix quantum mechanics, we demonstrate that the quantum Lyapunov exponents are in general smaller than their classical counterparts, and even seem to vanish below some temperature. This behavior resembles the finite-temperature phase transition which was found for this system in Monte-Carlo simulations, and ensures that the system does not violate the Maldacena-Shenker-Stanford bound λL < 2πT, which inevitably happens for classical dynamics at sufficiently small temperatures.

DOI
10.1051/epjconf/201817508006/pdf

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We describe a numerical method which allows to go beyond the classical approximation for the real-time dynamics of many-body systems by approximating the many-body Wigner function by the most general Gaussian function with time-dependent mean and dispersion. On a simple example of a classically chaotic system with two degrees of freedom we demonstrate that this Gaussian state approximation is accurate for significantly smaller field strengths and longer times than the classical one. Applying this approximation to matrix quantum mechanics, we demonstrate that the quantum Lyapunov exponents are in general smaller than their classical counterparts, and even seem to vanish below some temperature. This behavior resembles the finite-temperature phase transition which was found for this system in Monte-Carlo simulations, and ensures that the system does not violate the Maldacena-Shenker-Stanford bound λL < 2πT, which inevitably happens for classical dynamics at sufficiently small temperatures.
We describe a numerical method which allows to go beyond the classical approximation for the real-time dynamics of many-body systems by approximating the many-body Wigner function by the most general Gaussian function with time-dependent mean and dispersion. On a simple example of a classically chaotic system with two degrees of freedom we demonstrate that this Gaussian state approximation is accurate for significantly smaller field strengths and longer times than the classical one. Applying this approximation to matrix quantum mechanics, we demonstrate that the quantum Lyapunov exponents are in general smaller than their classical counterparts, and even seem to vanish below some temperature. This behavior resembles the finite-temperature phase transition which was found for this system in Monte-Carlo simulations, and ensures that the system does not violate the Maldacena-Shenker-Stanford bound λL < 2πT, which inevitably happens for classical dynamics at sufficiently small temperatures.
We study numerically the onset of chaos and thermalization in the Banks-Fischler-Shenker-Susskind (BFSS) matrix model with and without fermions, considering Lyapunov exponents, entanglement generation, and quasinormal ringing.We approximate the real-time dynamics in terms of the most general Gaussian density matrices with parameters which obey self-consistent equations of motion, thus extending the applicability of real-time simulations beyond the classical limit.Initial values of these Gaussian density matrices are optimized to be as close as possible to the thermal equilibrium state of the system.Thus attempting to bridge between the low-energy regime with a calculable holographic description and the classical regime at high energies, we find that quantum corrections to classical dynamics tend to decrease the Lyapunov exponents, which is essential for consistency with the Maldacena-Shenker-Stanford bound at low temperatures.The entanglement entropy is found to exhibit an expected "scrambling" behavior-rapid initial growth followed by saturation.At least at high temperatures the entanglement saturation time appears to be governed by classical Lyapunov exponents.Decay of quasinormal modes is found to be characterized by the shortest timescale of all.We also find that while the bosonic matrix model becomes nonchaotic in the low-temperature regime, for the full BFSS model with fermions the leading Lyapunov exponent, entanglement saturation time, and decay rate of quasinormal modes all remain finite and nonzero down to the lowest temperatures.
We study the real time quantum dynamics of a matrix model consisting two bosonic fields on the fuzzy sphere using the Gaussian state approximation. Starting from the Hamiltonian formulation and using Wick's theorem, we derive a closed set of coupled nonlinear differential equations governing the time evolution of the one- and two-point correlation functions. Thermal equation of state is found by maximizing the von Neumann entropy over Gaussian states and solving algebraic self-consistency equation(s) leading to a complete determination of the symplectic spectrum of the covariance matrix. We identify near thermal initial conditions and use them to solve the equations of motion and employ our findings to probe chaos by calculating the largest Lyapunov exponent at various temperatures. Our results demonstrate that the latter tends to zero at a finite temperature indicating that the quantum dynamics respect the Maldacena,Shenker,Stanford bound across all temperatures, while approaching toward the classically chaotic regime at high temperatures. Finally, we examine the entanglement dynamics of the model in real-time by considering a sequence of bipartitions of the Hilbert space and computing the entanglement entropy and clearly exhibit the fast scrambling features that emerge in due detail.
The exact classical simulation of non-integrable quantum systems rapidly becomes intractable beyond small system sizes, yet its role is central to predicting many-body dynamics. Approximate methods alleviate this cost but typically lack rigorous guarantees on their deviation from the exact result. For the infinite-temperature correlation function, we derive a rigorous error bound for approximating the full dynamics within a computable finite-sized region. Applied to autocorrelations, this finite-region approach is especially accurate across one-dimensional systems and beyond, and can further provide rigorous error bounds for other approximate methods, demonstrated here for matrix-product-operator simulations.
A direct comparison of quantum and classical dynamical systems can be accomplished through the use of distribution functions. This is useful for both fundamental investigations such as the nature of the quantum-classical transition as well as for applications such as quantum feedback control. By affording a clear separation between kinematical and dynamical quantum effects, the Wigner distribution is particularly valuable in this regard. Here we discuss some consequences of the fact that when closed-system classical and quantum dynamics are treated in Gaussian approximation, they are in fact identical. Thus, it follows that several results in the so-called `semiquantum' chaos actually arise from approximating the classical, and not the quantum dynamics. (Similarly, opposing claims of quantum suppression of chaos are also suspect.) As a simple byproduct of the analysis we are able to show how the Lyapunov exponent appears in the language of phase space distributions in a way that clearly underlines the difference between quantum and classical dynamical situations. We also informally discuss some aspects of approximations that go beyond the Gaussian approximation, such as the issue of when quantum nonlinear dynamical corrections become important compared to nonlinear classical corrections.
With the goal in mind of deriving a method to compute quantum corrections for the real-time evolution in quantum field theory, we analyze the problem from the perspective of the Wigner function. We argue that this provides the most natural way to justify and extend the classical approximation. A simple proposal is presented that can allow us to give systematic quantum corrections to the evolution of expectation values and/or an estimate of the errors committed when using the classical approximation. The method is applied to the case of a few degrees of freedom and compared with other methods and with the exact quantum results. An analysis of the dependence of the numerical effort involved as a function of the number of variables is given, which allows us to be optimistic about its applicability in a quantum field theoretical context.