Typical Pure States Research Articles

A smooth horizon without a smooth horizon

Recent observations on type III algebras in AdS/CFT raise the possibility that smoothness of the black hole horizon is an emergent feature of the large-N limit. In this paper, we present a bulk model for the finite-N mechanism underlying this transition. We quantize a free scalar field on a BTZ black hole with a Planckian stretched horizon placed as a Dirichlet boundary for the field. This is a tractable model for the stretched horizon that does not ignore the angular directions, and it defines a black hole vacuum which has similarities to (but is distinct from) the Boulware state. Using analytic approximations for the normal modes, we first improve upon ’t Hooft’s brick wall calculation: we are able to match both the entropy and the temperature, exactly. Emboldened by this, we compute the boundary Wightman function of the scalar field in a typical pure state built on our stretched horizon vacuum, at an energy sliver at the mass of the black hole. A key result is that despite the manifest lack of smoothness, this single-sided pure state calculation yields precisely the Hartle-Hawking thermal correlator associated to the smooth horizon, in the small-GN limit. At finite GN, there are variance corrections that are suppressed as Oe−SBH/2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O}\\left({e}^{-{S}_{BH}/2}\\right) $$\\end{document}. They become important at late times and resolve Maldacena’s information paradox. Highly excited typical pure states on the stretched horizon vacuum are therefore models for black hole microstates, while the smooth horizon describes the thermal state. We note that heavy excited states on the stretched horizon are better defined than the vacuum itself. These results suggest that complementarity in the bulk EFT could arise from a UV complete bulk description in which the black hole interior is not manifest.

Spread and asymmetry of typical quantum coherence and their inhibition in response to glassy disorder

We consider the average quantum coherences of typical redits and qudits—vectors of real and complex Hilbert spaces—with the analytical forms stemming from the symmetry of Haar-uniformly distributed random pure states. We subsequently study the response to disorder in spread of the typical quantum coherence in response to glassy disorder. The disorder is inserted in the state parameters. Even in the absence of disorder, the quantum coherence distributions of redits and qudits are not uniform over the range of quantum coherence, and the spreads are relatively lower for higher dimensions. On insertion of disorder, the spreads decrease. This decrease in the spread of quantum coherence distribution in response to disorder is seen to be a generic feature of typical pure states: we observe the feature for different strengths of disorder and for various types of disorder distributions, viz. Gaussian, uniform, and Cauchy–Lorentz. We also find that the quantum coherence distributions become less asymmetric with increase in dimension and with infusion of glassy disorder.

Time Evolution of Typical Pure States from a Macroscopic Hilbert Subspace

We consider a macroscopic quantum system with unitarily evolving pure state psi _tin mathcal {H} and take it for granted that different macro states correspond to mutually orthogonal, high-dimensional subspaces mathcal {H}_nu (macro spaces) of mathcal {H}. Let P_nu denote the projection to mathcal {H}_nu . We prove two facts about the evolution of the superposition weights Vert P_nu psi _tVert ^2: First, given any T>0, for most initial states psi _0 from any particular macro space mathcal {H}_mu (possibly far from thermal equilibrium), the curve tmapsto Vert P_nu psi _tVert ^2 is approximately the same (i.e., nearly independent of psi _0) on the time interval [0, T]. And second, for most psi _0 from mathcal {H}_mu and most tin [0,infty ), Vert P_nu psi _tVert ^2 is close to a value M_{mu nu } that is independent of both t and psi _0. The first is an instance of the phenomenon of dynamical typicality observed by Bartsch, Gemmer, and Reimann, and the second modifies, extends, and in a way simplifies the concept, introduced by von Neumann, now known as normal typicality.

Volume-Law Entanglement Entropy of Typical Pure Quantum States

The entanglement entropy of subsystems of typical eigenstates of quantum many-body Hamiltonians has been recently conjectured to be a diagnostic of quantum chaos and integrability. In quantum chaotic systems it has been found to behave as in typical pure states, while in integrable systems it has been found to behave as in typical pure Gaussian states. In this tutorial, we provide a pedagogical introduction to known results about the entanglement entropy of subsystems of typical pure states and of typical pure Gaussian states. They both exhibit a leading term that scales with the volume of the subsystem, when smaller than one half of the volume of the system, but the prefactor of the volume law is fundamentally different. It is constant (and maximal) for typical pure states, and it depends on the ratio between the volume of the subsystem and of the entire system for typical pure Gaussian states. Since particle-number conservation plays an important role in many physical Hamiltonians, we discuss its effect on typical pure states and on typical pure Gaussian states. We prove that while the behavior of the leading volume-law terms does not change qualitatively, the nature of the subleading terms can change. In particular, subleading corrections can appear that depend on the square root of the volume of the subsystem. We unveil the origin of those corrections. Finally, we discuss the connection between the entanglement entropy of typical pure states and analytical results obtained in the context of random matrix theory, as well as numerical results obtained for physical Hamiltonians.

The entanglement entropy of typical pure states and replica wormholes

In a 1+1 dimensional QFT on a circle, we consider the von Neumann entanglement entropy of an interval for typical pure states. As a function of the interval size, we expect a Page curve in the entropy. We employ a specific ensemble average of pure states, and show how to write the ensemble-averaged Rényi entropy as a path integral on a singular replicated geometry. Assuming that the QFT is a conformal field theory with a gravitational dual, we then use the holographic dictionary to obtain the Page curve. For short intervals the thermal saddle is dominant. For large intervals (larger than half of the circle size), the dominant saddle connects the replicas in a non-trivial way using the singular boundary geometry. The result extends the ‘island conjecture’ to a non-evaporating setting.

Probing typical black hole microstates

We investigate the possibility that the geometry dual to a typical AdS black hole microstate corresponds to the extended AdS-Schwarzschild geometry, including a region spacelike to the exterior. We argue that this region can be described by the mirror operators, a set of state-dependent operators in the dual CFT. We probe the geometry of a typical state by considering state-dependent deformations of the CFT Hamiltonian, which have an interpretation as a one-sided analogue of the Gao-Jafferis-Wall traversable wormhole protocol for typical states. We argue that the validity of the conjectured bulk geometry requires that out-of-time-order correlators of simple CFT operators on typical pure states must exhibit the same chaotic effects as thermal correlators at scrambling time. This condition is related to the question of whether the product of operators separated by scrambling time obey the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis. We investigate some of these statements in the SYK model and discuss similarities with state-dependent perturba- tions of pure states in the SYK model previously considered by Kourkoulou and Maldacena. Finally, we discuss how the mirror operators can be used to implement an analogue of the Hayden-Preskill protocol.

On the interior geometry of a typical black hole microstate

We argue that the region behind the horizon of a one-sided black hole can be probed by an analogue of the double-trace deformation protocol of Gao-Jafferis-Wall. This is achieved via a deformation of the CFT Hamiltonian by a term of the form mathcal{O}tilde{mathcal{O}} , where tilde{mathcal{O}} denote the state-dependent “mirror operators”. We argue that this deformation creates negative energy shockwaves in the bulk, which allow particles inside the horizon to escape and to get directly detected in the CFT. This provides evidence for the smoothness of the horizon of black holes dual to typical states. We argue that the mirror operators allow us to perform an analogue of the Hayden-Preskill decoding protocol. Our claims rely on a technical conjecture about the chaotic behavior of out-of-time-order correlators on typical pure states at scrambling time.

Entanglement Entropy of Eigenstates of Quadratic Fermionic Hamiltonians.

In a seminal paper [D. N. Page, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1291 (1993)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.71.1291], Page proved that the average entanglement entropy of subsystems of random pure states is S_{ave}≃lnD_{A}-(1/2)D_{A}^{2}/D for 1≪D_{A}≤sqrt[D], where D_{A} and D are the Hilbert space dimensions of the subsystem and the system, respectively. Hence, typical pure states are (nearly) maximally entangled. We develop tools to compute the average entanglement entropy ⟨S⟩ of all eigenstates of quadratic fermionic Hamiltonians. In particular, we derive exact bounds for the most general translationally invariant models lnD_{A}-(lnD_{A})^{2}/lnD≤⟨S⟩≤lnD_{A}-[1/(2ln2)](lnD_{A})^{2}/lnD. Consequently, we prove that (i)if the subsystem size is a finite fraction of the system size, then ⟨S⟩<lnD_{A} in the thermodynamic limit; i.e., the average over eigenstates of the Hamiltonian departs from the result for typical pure states, and (ii)in the limit in which the subsystem size is a vanishing fraction of the system size, the average entanglement entropy is maximal; i.e., typical eigenstates of such Hamiltonians exhibit eigenstate thermalization.

Typical pure nonequilibrium steady states and irreversibility for quantum transport

It is known that each single typical pure state in an energy shell of a large isolated quantum system well represents a thermal equilibrium state of the system. We show that such typicality holds also for nonequilibrium steady states (NESS's). We consider a small quantum system coupled to multiple infinite reservoirs. In the long run, the total system reaches a unique NESS. We identify a large Hilbert space from which pure states of the system are to be sampled randomly and show that the typical pure states well describe the NESS. We also point out that the irreversible relaxation to the unique NESS is important to the typicality of the pure NESS's.

Typical pure states and the analysis of nonequilibrium processes of mesoscopic systems

For isolated quantum many-body systems, we extend the availability of the intrinsic thermal nature of typical pure states to a class of nonequilibrium processes which start from an initial equilibrium. For concreteness, we calculate the spectral distribution of the work done on the system on the basis of a single pure state. It means that we can accurately calculate the entire fluctuation of the energy only from a single pure state instead of the thermodynamic ensembles.

Typical Pure States and Nonequilibrium Processes in Quantum Many-Body Systems

We show that it is possible to calculate equilibrium expectation values of many-body correlated quantities such as the characteristic functions and probability distributions with the use of only a single typical pure state. It also means that we can apply the pure state approach to Heisenberg operators and their spectral fluctuation, and hence to nonequilibrium processes starting from equilibrium. In particular, we can accurately analyze the full statistics of entropy production in nonequilibrium mesoscopic systems. In this way, we can access the full information on higher-order fluctuations in the large deviation regime far from equilibrium.

Canonical Thermal Pure Quantum State

A thermal equilibrium state of a quantum many-body system can be represented by a typical pure state, which we call a thermal pure quantum (TPQ) state. We construct the canonical TPQ state, which corresponds to the canonical ensemble of the conventional statistical mechanics. It is related to the microcanonical TPQ state, which corresponds to the microcanonical ensemble, by simple analytic transformations. Both TPQ states give identical thermodynamic results, if both ensembles do, in the thermodynamic limit. The TPQ states corresponding to other ensembles can also be constructed. We have thus established the TPQ formulation of statistical mechanics, according to which all quantities of statistical-mechanical interest are obtained from a single realization of any TPQ state. We also show that it has great advantages in practical applications. As an illustration, we study the spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet.

Bounds on entanglement in qudit subsystems

The entanglement in a pure state of N qudits (d-dimensional distinguishable quantum particles) can be characterized by specifying how entangled its subsystems are. A generally mixed subsystem of m qudits is obtained by tracing over the other $N\ensuremath{-}m$ qudits. We examine the entanglement in the space of mixed states of m qudits. We show that for a typical pure state of N qudits, its subsystems smaller than $N/3$ qudits will have a positive partial transpose and hence are separable or bound entangled. Additionally, our numerical results show that the probability of finding entangled subsystems smaller than $N/3$ falls exponentially in the dimension of the Hilbert space. The bulk of pure state Hilbert space thus consists of highly entangled states with multipartite entanglement encompassing at least a third of the qudits in the pure state.

Typical entanglement in multiple-qubit systems

Quantum entanglement and its paradoxical properties hold the key to an information processing revolution. Much attention has focused recently on the challenging problem of characterizing entanglement. Entanglement for a two qubit system is reasonably well understood; however, the nature and properties of multiple qubit systems are largely unexplored. Motivated by the importance of such systems in quantum computing, we show that typical pure states of N qubits are highly entangled but have decreasing amounts of pairwise entanglement (measured using the Wootter concurrence formula) as N increases. Above six qubits, very few states have any pairwise entanglement and, generally, for a typical pure state of N qubits there is a sharp cut-off where its subsystems of size m become positive partial transpose (i.e. separable or only bound entangled) around N ⪆ 2m + 3, based on numerical analysis up to N = 13.