Late-time Value Research Articles

Frame potential of Brownian SYK model of Majorana and Dirac fermions

We consider the Brownian SYK, i.e. a system of N Majorana (Dirac) fermions with a white-noise q-body interaction term. We focus on the dynamics of the Frame potentials, a measure of the scrambling and chaos, given by the moments of the overlap between two independent realisations of the model. By means of a Keldysh path-integral formalism, we compute its early and late-time value. We show that, for q > 2, the late time path integral saddle point correctly reproduces the saturation to the value of the Haar frame potential. On the contrary, for q = 2, the model is quadratic and consistently we observe saturation to the Haar value in the restricted space of Gaussian states (Gaussian Haar). The latter is characterised by larger system size corrections that we correctly capture by counting the Goldstone modes of the Keldysh saddle point. Finally, in the case of Dirac fermions, we highlight and resolve the role of the global U(1) symmetry.

Local operator entanglement in spin chains

Understanding how and whether local perturbations can affect the entire quantum system is a fundamental step in understanding non-equilibrium phenomena such as thermalization. This knowledge of non-equilibrium phenomena is applicable for quantum computation, as many quantum computers employ non-equilibrium processes for computations. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of bi- and tripartite operator mutual information of the time-evolution operator and the Pauli spin operators in the one-dimensional Ising model with magnetic field and the disordered Heisenberg model to study the properties of quantum circuits. In the Ising model, the early-time evolution qualitatively follows an effective light cone picture, and the late-time value is well described by Page’s value for a random pure state. In the Heisenberg model with strong disorder, we find that many-body localization prevents the information from propagating and being delocalized. We also find an effective Ising Hamiltonian that describes the time evolution of bi- and tripartite operator mutual information for the Heisenberg model in the large disorder regime.

Critical dynamical behavior of the Ising model.

We investigate the dynamical critical behavior of the two- and three-dimensional Ising models with Glauber dynamics in equilibrium. In contrast to the usual standing, we focus on the mean-squared deviation of the magnetization M,MSD_{M}, as a function of time, as well as on the autocorrelation function of M. These two functions are distinct but closely related. We find that MSD_{M} features a first crossover at time τ_{1}∼L^{z_{1}}, from ordinary diffusion with MSD_{M}∼t, to anomalous diffusion with MSD_{M}∼t^{α}. Purely on numerical grounds, we obtain the values z_{1}=0.45(5) and α=0.752(5) for the two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet. Related to this, the magnetization autocorrelation function crosses over from an exponential decay to a stretched-exponential decay. At later times, we find a second crossover at time τ_{2}∼L^{z_{2}}. Here, MSD_{M} saturates to its late-time value ∼L^{2+γ/ν}, while the autocorrelation function crosses over from stretched-exponential decay to simple exponential one. We also confirm numerically the value z_{2}=2.1665(12), earlier reported as the single dynamic exponent. Continuity of MSD_{M} requires that α(z_{2}-z_{1})=γ/ν-z_{1}. We speculate that z_{1}=1/2 and α=3/4, values that indeed lead to the expected z_{2}=13/6 result. A complementary analysis for the three-dimensional Ising model provides the estimates z_{1}=1.35(2),α=0.90(2), and z_{2}=2.032(3). While z_{2} has attracted significant attention in the literature, we argue that for all practical purposes z_{1} is more important, as it determines the number of statistically independent measurements during a long simulation.

The scaling of primordial gauge fields

The large-scale magnetic fields arising from the quantum mechanical fluctuations of the hypercharge are investigated when the evolution of the gauge coupling is combined with a sufficiently long inflationary stage. In this framework the travelling waves associated with the quantum mechanical initial conditions turn asymptotically into standing waves which are the gauge analog of the Sakharov oscillations. Even if the rate of dilution of the hypermagnetic and hyperelectric fields seems to be superficially smaller than expected from the covariant conservation of the energy-momentum tensor, the standard evolution for wavelengths larger than the Hubble radius fully accounts for this anomalous scaling which is anyway unable to increase the amplitude of the magnetic power spectra after symmetry breaking. An effective amplification of the gauge power spectra may instead occur when the post-inflationary expansion rate is slower than radiation. We stress that the modulations of the gauge power spectra freeze as soon as the relevant wavelengths reenter the Hubble radius and not at the end of inflation. After the Mpc scale crosses the comoving Hubble radius the scaling of the magnetic power spectrum follows from the dominance of the conductivity. From these two observations the late-time values of the magnetic power spectra are accurately computed in the case of a nearly scale-invariant slope and contrasted with the situation where the phases of Sakharov oscillations are not evaluated at horizon crossing but at the end of inflation, i.e. when all the wavelengths relevant for magnetogenesis are still larger than the comoving horizon.

Hypermagnetic power spectra and the phases of Sakharov oscillations

If the gauge fields are amplified from the inflationary vacuum, the quantum mechanical initial data correspond to travelling waves that turn asymptotically into standing waves whose phases only depend on the evolution of the gauge coupling. We point out that these gauge analogs of the Sakharov oscillations are exchanged by the duality symmetry and ultimately constrain both the relative scaling of the hypermagnetic power spectra and their final asymptotic values. Unlike the case of the density contrasts in a relativistic plasma, the standing oscillations never develop since they are eventually overdamped by the finite value of the conductivity as soon as the corresponding modes are comparable with the expansion rates after inflation. We show that the late-time value of the magnetic field is not determined at radiation dominance (and in spite of the value of the wavenumber) but it depends on the moment when the wavelengths (comparable with the Mpc) get of the order of the Hubble radius before equality. This means that the magnetogenesis requirements are only relaxed if the post-inflationary expansion rate is slower than radiation but the opposite is true when the plasma expands faster than radiation and the corresponding power spectra are further suppressed. After combining the present findings with the evolution of the gauge coupling we show that these results are consistent with a magnetogenesis scenario where the gauge coupling is always perturbative during the inflationary stage while, in the dual case, the same requirements cannot be satisfied.

Generalized volume-complexity for two-sided hyperscaling violating black branes

In this paper, we investigate generalized volume-complexity mathcal{C} gen for a two-sided uncharged HV black brane in d + 2 dimensions. This quantity which was recently introduced in [48], is an extension of volume in the Complexity=Volume (CV) proposal, by adding higher curvature corrections with a coupling constant λ to the volume functional. We numerically calculate the growth rate of mathcal{C} gen for different values of the hyperscaling violation exponent θ and dynamical exponent z. It is observed that mathcal{C} gen always grows linearly at late times provided that we choose λ properly. Moreover, it approaches its late time value from below. For the case λ = 0, we find an analytic expression for the late time growth rate for arbitrary values of θ and z. However, for λ ≠ 0, the late time growth rate can only be calculated analytically for some specific values of θ and z. We also examine the dependence of the growth rate on d, θ, z and λ. Furthermore, we calculate the complexity of formation obtained from volume-complexity and show that it is not UV divergent. We also examine its dependence on the thermal entropy and temperature of the black brane. At the end, we also numerically calculate the growth rate of mathcal{C} gen for the case where the higher curvature corrections are a linear combination of the Ricci scalar, square of the Ricci tensor and square of the Riemann tensor. We show that for appropriate values of the coupling constants, the late time growth rate is again linear.

Information spreading and scrambling in disorder-free multiple-spin-interaction models

Tripartite mutual information (TMI) is an efficient observable to quantify the ability of a scrambler for the unitary time-evolution operator with a quenched many-body Hamiltonian. In this paper we give numerical demonstrations of the TMI in disorder-free (translationally invariant) spin models with three-body and four-body multiple-spin interactions. The dynamical behavior of the TMI of these models does not exhibit a linear light cone for sufficiently strong interactions. In early-time evolution, the TMI displays a distinct negative increase fitted by a logarithmiclike function. This is in contrast to the conventional linear light-cone behavior present in the $XXZ$ model and its near-integrable vicinity. The late-time evolution of the TMI in finite-size systems is also numerically investigated. The multiple-spin interactions make the system nearly integrable and weakly suppress the spread of information and scrambling. The observation of the late-time value of the TMI indicates that the scrambling nature of the system changes by interactions and this change can be characterized by a phase-transition-like behavior of the TMI, reflecting the system's integrability and violating the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis.

Scrambling with conservation laws

In this article we discuss the impact of conservation laws, specifically U(1) charge conservation and energy conservation, on scrambling dynamics, especially on the approach to the late time fully scrambled state. As a model, we consider a d + 1 dimensional (d ≥ 2) holographic conformal field theory with Einstein gravity dual. Using the holographic dictionary, we calculate out-of-time-order-correlators (OTOCs) that involve the conserved U(1) current operator or energy-momentum tensor. We show that these OTOCs approach their late time value as a power law in time, with a universal exponent frac{d}{2} . We also generalize the result to compute OTOCs between general operators which have overlap with the conserved charges.

Time Evolution of Correlation Functions in Quantum Many-Body Systems.

We give rigorous analytical results on the temporal behavior of two-point correlation functions-also known as dynamical response functions or Green's functions-in closed many-body quantum systems. Weshow that in a large class of translation-invariant models the correlation functions factorize at late times ⟨A(t)B⟩_{β}→⟨A⟩_{β}⟨B⟩_{β}, thus proving that dissipation emerges out of the unitary dynamics of the system. Wealso show that for systems with a generic spectrum the fluctuations around this late-time value are bounded by the purity of the thermal ensemble, which generally decays exponentially with system size. For autocorrelation functions we provide an upper bound on the timescale at which they reach the factorized late time value. Remarkably, this bound is only a function of local expectation values and does not increase with system size. We give numerical examples that show that this bound is a good estimate in nonintegrable models, and argue that the timescale that appears can be understood in terms of an emergent fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Our study extends to further classes of two point functions such as the symmetrized ones and the Kubo function that appears in linear response theory, for which we give analogous results.

Out-of-time-order correlations in the quasiperiodic Aubry-André model

We study out of time ordered correlators (OTOC) in a free fermionic model with a quasi-periodic potential. This model is equivalent to the Aubry-Andr\'e model and features a phase transition from an extended phase to a localized phase at a non-zero value of the strength of the quasi-periodic potential. We investigate five different time-regimes of interest for out of time ordered correlators; early, wavefront, $x=v_Bt$, late time equilibration and infinite time. For the early time regime we observe a power law for all potential strengths. For the time regime preceding the wavefront we confirm a recently proposed universal form and use it to extract the characteristic velocity of the wavefront for the present model. A Gaussian waveform is observed to work well in the time regime surrounding $x=v_Bt$. Our main result is for the late time equilibration regime where we derive a finite time equilibration bound for the OTOC, bounding the correlator's distance from its late time value. The bound impose strict limits on equilibration of the OTOC in the extended regime ans is valid not only for the Aubry-Andr\'e model but for any quadratic model model. Finally, momentum out of time ordered correlators for the Aubry-Andr\'e model are studied where large values of the OTOC are observed at late times at the critical point.

Hamiltonian dynamics of a sum of interacting random matrices

In ergodic quantum systems, physical observables have a nonrelaxing component if they ``overlap'' with a conserved quantity. In interacting microscopic models, how to isolate the nonrelaxing component is unclear. We compute exact dynamical correlators governed by a Hamiltonian composed of two large interacting random matrices $H=A+B$. We analytically obtain the late-time value of $\ensuremath{\langle}A(t)A(0)\ensuremath{\rangle}$; this quantifies the nonrelaxing part of the observable $A$. The relaxation to this value is governed by a power law determined by the spectrum of the Hamiltonian $H$, independent of the observable $A$. For Gaussian matrices, we further compute out-of-time-ordered correlators and find that the existence of a nonrelaxing part of $A$ leads to modifications of the late-time values and exponents. Our results follow from exact resummation of a diagrammatic expansion and hyperoperator techniques.

Predominance of the weakest species in Lotka-Volterra and May-Leonard formulations of the rock-paper-scissors model.

We revisit the problem of the predominance of the "weakest" species in the context of Lotka-Volterra and May-Leonard formulations of a spatial stochastic rock-paper-scissors model in which one of the species has its predation probability reduced by 0<P_{w}<1. We show that, despite the different population dynamics and spatial patterns, these two formulations lead to qualitatively similar results for the late time values of the relative abundances of the three species (as a function of P_{w}), as long as the simulation lattices are sufficiently large for coexistence to prevail-the "weakest" species generally having an advantage over the others (specially over its predator). However, for smaller simulation lattices, we find that the relatively large oscillations at the initial stages of simulations with random initial conditions may result in a significant dependence of the probability of species survival on the lattice size.

Time dependence of holographic complexity in Gauss-Bonnet gravity

We study the effect of the Gauss-Bonnet term on the complexity growth rate of dual field theory using the "Complexity--Volume" (CV) and CV2.0 conjectures. We investigate the late time value and full time evolution of the complexity growth rate of the Gauss-Bonnet black holes with horizons with zero curvature ($k=0$), positive curvature ($k=1$) and negative curvature ($k=-1$) respectively. For the $k=0$ and $k=1$ cases we find that the Gauss-Bonnet term suppresses the growth rate as expected, while in the $k=-1$ case the effect of the Gauss-Bonnet term may be opposite to what is expected. The reason for it is briefly discussed, and the comparison of our results to the result obtained by using the "Complexity--Action" (CA) conjecture is also presented. We also briefly investigate two proposals applying some generalized volume functionals dual to the complexity in higher curvature gravity theories, and find their behaviors are different for $k=0$ at late times.

Operator Spreading and the Emergence of Dissipative Hydrodynamics under Unitary Evolution with Conservation Laws

We study the scrambling of local quantum information in chaotic many-body systems in the presence of a locally conserved quantity like charge or energy that moves diffusively. The interplay between conservation laws and scrambling sheds light on the mechanism by which unitary quantum dynamics, which is reversible, gives rise to diffusive hydrodynamics, which is a dissipative process. We obtain our results in a random quantum circuit model that is constrained to have a conservation law. We find that a generic spreading operator consists of two parts: (i) a conserved part which comprises the weight of the spreading operator on the local conserved densities, whose dynamics is described by diffusive charge spreading. This conserved part also acts as a source that steadily emits a flux of (ii) non-conserved operators. This emission leads to dissipation in the operator hydrodynamics, with the dissipative process being the conversion of operator weight from local conserved operators to nonconserved, at a rate set by the local diffusion current. The emitted nonconserved parts then spread ballistically at a butterfly speed, thus becoming highly nonlocal and hence essentially non-observable, thereby acting as the "reservoir" that facilitates the dissipation. In addition, we find that the nonconserved component develops a power law tail behind its leading ballistic front due to the slow dynamics of the conserved components. This implies that the out-of-time-order commutator (OTOC) between two initially separated operators grows sharply upon the arrival of the ballistic front but, in contrast to systems with no conservation laws, it develops a diffusive tail and approaches its asymptotic late-time value only as a power of time instead of exponentially. We also derive these results within an effective hydrodynamic description which contains multiple coupled diffusion equations.

Out-of-equilibrium dynamics of repulsive Fermi gases in quasiperiodic potentials: A density functional theory study

The dynamics of a one-dimensional two-component Fermi gas in the presence of a quasi-periodic optical lattice (OL) is investigated by means of a Density Functional Theory approach. Inspired by the protocol implemented in recent cold-atom experiments, designed to identify the many-body localization transition, we analyze the relaxation of an initially prepared imbalance between the occupation number of odd and of even sites. For quasi-disorder strength beyond the Anderson localization transition, the imbalance survives for long times, indicating the inability of the system to reach local equilibrium. The late time value diminishes for increasing interaction strength. Close to the critical quasi-disorder strength corresponding to the noninteracting (Anderson) transition, the interacting system displays an extremely slow relaxation dynamics, consistent with sub-diffusive behavior. The amplitude of the imbalance fluctuations around its running average is found to decrease with time, and such damping is more effective with increasing interaction strengths. While our study addresses the setup with two equally intense OLs, very similar effects due to interactions have been observed also in recent cold-atom experiments performed in the tight-binding regime, i.e. where one of the two OLs is very deep and the other is much weaker.

Information scrambling at an impurity quantum critical point

The two-channel Kondo impurity model realizes a local non-Fermi liquid state with finite residual entropy. The competition between the two channels drives the system to an impurity quantum critical point. We show that the out-of-time-ordered (OTO) commutator for the impurity spin reveals markedly distinct behaviour depending on the low energy impurity state. For the one channel Kondo model with Fermi liquid ground state, the OTO commutator vanishes for late times, indicating the absence of the butterfly effect. For the two channel case, the impurity OTO commutator is completely temperature independent and saturates quickly to its upper bound 1/4, and the butterfly effect is maximally enhanced. These compare favourably to numerics on spin chain representation of the Kondo model. Our results imply that a large late time value of the OTO commutator does not necessarily diagnose quantum chaos.

Out-of-Time-Ordered Density Correlators in Luttinger Liquids

Information scrambling and the butterfly effect in chaotic quantum systems can be diagnosed by out-of-time-ordered (OTO) commutators through an exponential growth and large late time value. We show that the latter feature shows up in a strongly correlated many-body system, a Luttinger liquid, whose density fluctuations we study at long and short wavelengths, both in equilibrium and after a quantum quench. We find rich behavior combining robustly universal and nonuniversal features. The OTO commutators display temperature- and initial-state-independent behavior and grow as t^{2} for short times. For the short-wavelength density operator, they reach a sizable value after the light cone only in an interacting Luttinger liquid, where the bare excitations break up into collective modes. This challenges the common interpretation of the OTO commutator in chaotic systems. We benchmark our findings numerically on an interacting spinless fermion model in 1D and find persistence of central features even in the nonintegrable case. As a nonuniversal feature, the short-time growth exhibits a distance-dependent power.

Quantum entanglement of locally excited states in Maxwell theory

In 4 dimensional Maxwell gauge theory, we study the changes of (Renyi) entangle-ment entropy which are defined by subtracting the entropy for the ground state from the one for the locally excited states generated by acting with the gauge invariant local operators on the state. The changes for the operators which we consider in this paper reflect the electric-magnetic duality. The late-time value of changes can be interpreted in terms of electromagnetic quasi-particles. When the operator constructed of both electric and magnetic fields acts on the ground state, it shows that the operator acts on the late-time structure of quantum entanglement differently from free scalar fields.

Out-of-time-ordered correlators and purity in rational conformal field theories

In this paper we investigate measures of chaos and entanglement in rational conformal field theories in 1+1 dimensions. First, we derive a universal formula for the late time value of the out-of-time-ordered correlators for this class of theories. Our universal result can be expressed as a particular combination of the modular S-matrix elements known as the anyon monodromy scalar. Next, in the explicit setup of a $SU(N)_k$ Wess-Zumino-Witten model, we compare the late time behavior of the out-of-time-ordered correlators and the purity. Interestingly, in the large-c limit, the purity grows logarithmically as in holographic theories; in contrast, the out-of-time-ordered correlators remain, in general, non-vanishing.

Turbulent mixing driven by spherical implosions. Part 2. Turbulence statistics

AbstractWe present large-eddy simulations (LES) of turbulent mixing at a perturbed, spherical interface separating two fluids of differing densities and subsequently impacted by a spherically imploding shock wave. This paper focuses on the differences between two fundamental configurations, keeping fixed the initial shock Mach number $\approx $1.2, the density ratio (precisely $|A_0|\approx 0.67$) and the perturbation shape (dominant spherical wavenumber $\ell _0=40$ and amplitude-to-initial radius of 3 %): the incident shock travels from the lighter fluid to the heavy one, or inversely, from the heavy to the light fluid. In Part 1 (Lombardini, M., Pullin, D. I. &amp; Meiron, D. I., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 748, 2014, pp. 85–112), we described the computational problem and presented results on the radially symmetric flow, the mean flow, and the growth of the mixing layer. In particular, it was shown that both configurations reach similar convergence ratios $\approx $2. Here, turbulent mixing is studied through various turbulence statistics. The mixing activity is first measured through two mixing parameters, the mixing fraction parameter $\varTheta $ and the effective Atwood ratio $A_e$, which reach similar late time values in both light–heavy and heavy–light configurations. The Taylor-scale Reynolds numbers attained at late times are estimated at approximately 2000 in the light–heavy case and 1000 in the heavy–light case. An analysis of the density self-correlation $b$, a fundamental quantity in the study of variable-density turbulence, shows asymmetries in the mixing layer and non-Boussinesq effects generally observed in high-Reynolds-number Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) turbulence. These traits are more pronounced in the light–heavy mixing layer, as a result of its flow history, in particular because of RT-unstable phases (see Part 1). Another measure distinguishing light–heavy from heavy–light mixing is the velocity-to-scalar Taylor microscales ratio. In particular, at late times, larger values of this ratio are reported in the heavy–light case. The late-time mixing displays the traits some of the traits of the decaying turbulence observed in planar Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) flows. Only partial isotropization of the flow (in the sense of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and dissipation) is observed at late times, the Reynolds normal stresses (and, thus, the directional Taylor microscales) being anisotropic while the directional Kolmogorov microscales approach isotropy. A spectral analysis is developed for the general study of statistically isotropic turbulent fields on a spherical surface, and applied to the present flow. The resulting angular power spectra show the development of an inertial subrange approaching a Kolmogorov-like $-5/3$ power law at high wavenumbers, similarly to the scaling obtained in planar geometry. It confirms the findings of Thomas &amp; Kares (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 109, 2012, 075004) at higher convergence ratios and indicates that the turbulent scales do not seem to feel the effect of the spherical mixing-layer curvature.