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On thermalization in the SYK and supersymmetric SYK models

  • Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
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  • Published: 22 February 2018
  • volume 2018, Article number: 142 (2018)
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On thermalization in the SYK and supersymmetric SYK models
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  • Nicholas Hunter-Jones1,
  • Junyu Liu2 &
  • Yehao Zhou3,4 

  • 577 Accesses

  • 27 Citations

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A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv.

Abstract

The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis is a compelling conjecture which strives to explain the apparent thermal behavior of generic observables in closed quantum systems. Although we are far from a complete analytic understanding, quantum chaos is often seen as a strong indication that the ansatz holds true. In this paper, we address the thermalization of energy eigenstates in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, a maximally chaotic model of strongly-interacting Majorana fermions. We numerically investigate eigenstate thermalization for specific few-body operators in the original SYK model as well as its \( \mathcal{N} \) = 1 supersymmetric extension and find evidence that these models satisfy ETH. We discuss the implications of ETH for a gravitational dual and the quantum information-theoretic properties of SYK it suggests.

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, U.S.A.

    Nicholas Hunter-Jones

  2. Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, U.S.A.

    Junyu Liu

  3. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON, N2L 2Y5, Canada

    Yehao Zhou

  4. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Yehao Zhou

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  1. Nicholas Hunter-Jones
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  2. Junyu Liu
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  3. Yehao Zhou
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Correspondence to Junyu Liu.

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ArXiv ePrint: 1710.03012

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Hunter-Jones, N., Liu, J. & Zhou, Y. On thermalization in the SYK and supersymmetric SYK models. J. High Energ. Phys. 2018, 142 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2018)142

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  • Received: 19 November 2017

  • Accepted: 07 February 2018

  • Published: 22 February 2018

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2018)142

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Keywords

  • 2D Gravity
  • AdS-CFT Correspondence
  • Black Holes
  • Random Systems
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