arXiv subjects

Andreas Karch

Publications and source records attributed to Andreas Karch.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum Complexity Dynamics for Disjoint Subsystems

Quantum complexity has emerged as a natural probe of chaos, thermalization, and the black hole interior on timescales long after local observables have equilibrated. However, its time evolution has been studied almost exclusively in subsystems confined to a single connected region. We show, using complementary tools from holography and random quantum circuits, that noncontiguous subsystems composed of multiple disjoint regions give rise to qualitatively new physics compared to the contiguous case. First, at finite temperature, a subsystem occupying less than half of the total system can carry high complexity at late times, even as the complexity of its larger complement remains low. This inversion of the usual hierarchy is intrinsically thermal: it vanishes in the infinite-temperature limit, which is the regime modeled by random quantum circuits. Second, if a subsystem's complexity equilibrates at an early time, then fragmenting it into $m$ disjoint components can further reduce this timescale by a factor of $m$, a phenomenon we exhibit in both holography and random quantum circuits. These results not only sharpen the correspondence between geometric and computational notions of complexity, but also motivate the search for novel complexity phenomena in quantum dynamics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Sp(4,Z) actions on 3d U(1)^2 symmetric theories: Order-five duality and bilayer quantum Hall hierarchies

The $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ electromagnetic duality of 4d Maxwell theory induces theory-generating operations on 3d theories with $U(1)$ global symmetry. For theories with $U(1)^n$ symmetry, this structure generalizes to $\mathrm{Sp}(2n,\mathbb{Z})$. Focusing on the $U(1)^2$ case, we formulate the bulk $\mathrm{Sp}(4,\mathbb{Z})$ action and derive the corresponding boundary operations. We identify an intrinsically two-component element of order five, which generalizes the order-three $ST$ element of the single-$U(1)$ theory. Although its fifth power acts trivially in the bulk, the corresponding boundary operation closes only up to a decoupled $U(1)_1$ invertible phase, suggesting a mixed duality-gravitational anomaly. We realize the resulting theory-generating web for Abelian Chern-Simons theories within the $K$-matrix formalism and apply it to bilayer fractional quantum Hall systems. Recasting the Haldane--Halperin hierarchy construction as a sequence of $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$ operations, we generalize it to systems with charge $U(1)_c$ and pseudospin $U(1)_s$ symmetries. The resulting bilayer hierarchies contain branches terminating in an interlayer-correlated bosonic $(221)$ daughter sector, yielding candidate Abelian states at the even-denominator equal-layer fillings $3/8+3/8$ and $5/12+5/12$. Integral changes of anyon basis establish the equivalence of these states to their corresponding Abelian composite-fermion descriptions. We further discuss the spin-charge constraints that arise when the electromagnetic background field is treated as a spin-$c$ connection.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

One-point functions in 2D and 4D SUSY Janus

We calculate the one-point functions of the marginal operator $\mathcal{L}'$ dual to the space-varying dilaton in 4D and 2D holographic Janus interfaces, extending results in arXiv:hep-th/0407073. We compare strongly-coupled supergravity and weakly-coupled CFT limits across $\mathcal{N}=0, 1, 2, 4$ holographic Janus interfaces in 4D SYM, and $\mathcal{N}=0, 4$ Janus interfaces for 2D D1-D5 CFT. Exact agreement between these regimes occurs only for the half-BPS interfaces in both 4D and 2D cases, while for other interfaces they agree to first order of the jump parameter. This result reinforces that exact weak/strong coupling matching for interface observables on supersymmetric (SUSY) conformal manifolds is exclusive to maximally SUSY interfaces.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Seeing Page Curves and Islands with Blinders On

This paper summarizes recent discussions of the Page curve and the information paradox, and responds to the reasoning and examples from arXiv:2506.04311. We review arguments demonstrating that in quantum gravity the algebra of observables at infinity is complete, both in AdS and in asymptotically flat space. This completeness implies that the bulk Hilbert space in quantum gravity does not factorize along the radial direction, undermining a key common assumption in Hawking's argument for information loss and in initial derivations of the Page curve. As a consequence, in a standard theory of gravity, information does not ``emerge'' from a black hole in the manner suggested by the Page curve; rather, it is already encoded in asymptotic observables. Relatedly, the full black hole interior, and not just an ``island'', can be reconstructed from exterior data. Page curves and islands can be obtained by removing the Hamiltonian from the exterior algebra. This may be implemented operationally by restricting access to part of the asymptotic region (a detector with a ``blind spot'') or, in the special case of null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes, by formally discarding the Hamiltonian from the set of observables despite its physical accessibility. Such Page curves describe only the redistribution of information between measured and unmeasured degrees of freedom, rather than fundamental information recovery. Finally, Page curves and islands also arise when a black hole is coupled to a nongravitational bath, a setup that yields a nonstandard theory of gravity. We show how, even in this setting, the unusual localization of information in gravity provides a concrete physical mechanism for information transfer from the gravitational system into the bath.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Universality of Dissipation across Holographic Interfaces

Motivated by recent results in spin chains we study dissipation and relaxation in a two-dimensional \ak{holographic} interface conformal field theory (ICFT) in which degrees of freedom on one side of the interface are coupled to an external bath, while the other side remains isolated. In the bulk description this setup is realized by gluing a supersymmetric Janus geometry to a BTZ black hole region, with the coupling implemented through a double-trace deformation. We determine the quasinormal modes in the bulk by solving the double-trace matching conditions of the system and bath. Focusing on the fixed AdS$_2$ descendant channel at large frequency, we introduce the dimensionless ratio $c_{UV}$ as a projected measure of interface-induced suppression of dissipation rate. Analytically we find that in this limit, $c_{UV}$ is independent of coupling details to the bath. It is a strong candidate for a universal interface observable characterizing dissipation and relaxation across the interface, in additional to the $c_{\rm relax}$ raised in earlier work for lattice models.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Wet Hair: Global Symmetries in Entanglement Islands

A central conjecture in quantum gravity is the non-existence of global symmetries. As a fully unitary theory, there is no information loss in a UV complete quantum gravity theory. We see both these concepts reflected in the AdS/CFT correspondence, which tells us that dynamical processes in AdS are fully captured by a manifestly unitary CFT with no information loss. Furthermore, global symmetries of the CFT are dual to gauge symmetries in the AdS, which implies no global symmetry in the AdS. In this work, we provide concrete evidence for the connection between the non-existence of global symmetries and the absence of information loss in quantum gravity. We study the $\textit{island setups}$ in which a gravitational AdS is coupled with a nongravitational bath on its boundary. In such theories, the information in the AdS can be lost to the bath. We provide concrete examples with global symmetries in the island setup, from both the bottom-up and the top-down perspectives. We argue that these global symmetries are consistent due to $\textit{entanglement islands}$, in which holography is realized in a novel fashion. The global symmetries we construct are all mixed with spontaneously broken gauge symmetries. We will show that this fact has two implications: $\textbf{1)}$ The black hole hair is detectable in the bath (``wet hair"); $\textbf{2)}$ a resolution of a puzzle proposed by Harlow and Shaghoulian.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Sharp Transitions for Subsystem Complexity

The circuit complexity of time-evolved pure quantum states grows linearly in time for an exponentially long time. This behavior has been proven in certain models, is conjectured to hold for generic quantum many-body systems, and is believed to be dual to the long-time growth of black hole interiors in AdS/CFT. Achieving a similar understanding for mixed states remains an important problem. In this work, we study the circuit complexity of time-evolved subsystems of pure quantum states. We find that for greater-than-half subsystem sizes, the complexity grows linearly in time for an exponentially long time, similarly to that of the full state. However, for less-than-half subsystem sizes, the complexity rises and then falls, returning to low complexity as the subsystem equilibrates. Notably, the transition between these two regimes occurs sharply at half system size. We use holographic duality to map out this picture of subsystem complexity dynamics and rigorously prove the existence of the sharp transition in random quantum circuits. Furthermore, we use holography to predict features of complexity growth at finite temperature that lie beyond the reach of techniques based on random quantum circuits. In particular, at finite temperature, we argue for an additional sharp transition at a critical less-than-half subsystem size. Below this critical value, the subsystem complexity saturates nearly instantaneously rather than exhibiting a rise and fall. This novel phenomenon, as well as an analogous transition above half system size, provides a target for future studies based on rigorous methods.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Dissipation in Open Holography

We exploit the holographic realization of a conformal theory coupled to an external bath realized via a double trace deformation and its gravity dual in terms of transparent boundary conditions in order to map out some basic dissipative properties of this simple open holographic system. In particular, we determine the energy transmission coefficient across the boundary, discover a novel duality relating weak and strong coupling to the external bath, and quantify the dissipation in the system by working out the quasi normal modes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Connecting boundary entropy and effective central charge at holographic interfaces

The entanglement entropy of intervals in $1+1$ interface CFTs is modified in two ways compared to a CFT without interface: there is a finite boundary entropy contribution, and, for an interval with an endpoint at the interface, the coefficient of the logarithmically divergent contribution -- which is usually proportional to the central charge of the CFT -- is modified to an effective central charge. We show that the latter modification can be understood as a limit of the former using holographic duals of interface CFTs. Furthermore, we show that a finite contribution also appears in intervals that do not cross the interface and it is needed to ensure strong subbaditivity of the entanglement entropy.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Critical theories connecting gapped phases with $\mathbb{Z}_2\times\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry from the duality web

We use the ideas behind the duality web to construct numerous conformal field theories mediating the phase transitions between various symmetry broken and topological phases. In particular we obtain the full field theory version of the Kennedy Tasaki transformation, mapping a gapless theory mediating a topological phase transition of symmetry protected topological orders to a standard symmetry breaking one in a 1+1 dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory. When we consider all possible discrete gauging operations, we obtain bosonic and fermionic webs with 9 critical theories per web, each connecting 4 separate gapped phases, some of them topological. Bosonization maps the two webs into each other. In addition to discussing the multi-critical theory connecting the four gapped phases in each phase diagram, we discuss the partially gapped theories connecting two of those four. Some of these are gapless symmetry protected topological phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Nonrenormalization Theorem for ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ Interface Entropy

We derive a formula for the half-BPS interface entropy between any pair of ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ theories on the same conformal manifold. This generalizes the diastasis formula derived in arXiv:1311.2202 for ${\cal N}=(2,2)$ theories, which is restricted to the conformal submanifolds generated by either chiral or twisted chiral multiples of ${\cal N}=(2,2)$ supersymmetry. To derive the ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ formula, we use the fact that the conformal manifold of ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ theories is symmetric and quaternionic-K\"ahler and that its isotropy group contains the $SU(2) \otimes SU(2)$ external automorphism of the ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ superconformal algebra. As an application of the formula, we prove a supersymmetric non-renormalization theorem, which explains the observation in arXiv:1005.4433 that the interface entropy for half-BPS Janus solutions in type IIB supergravity on ${\it AdS}_3 \times S^3 \times T^4$ coincides with the corresponding quantity in their free conformal field limits.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Branes Screening Quarks and Defect Operators

Here we generalize a well-known computation and uncover a phase-transition, showing that Wilson lines do not necessarily exhibit Coulomb scaling laws in AdS/BCFT at zero temperature. The area difference between a surface that returns to the boundary, and one that plunges into the bulk, determines the potential between two quarks. This classic AdS/CFT calculation is naturally extended to Wilson surfaces associated to general p-form symmetries in boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs) by embedding a Karch-Randall (KR) brane in the geometry. We find (generalized) Coulomb law scaling in subregion size $\Gamma$ is recovered only above the critical angle for the brane, $\theta_{c,p}$. The potential between the two quarks (or defect operators) vanishes precisely when the surface connecting them ceases to exist at $\theta_{c,p}$. This screening effect, where the operators are fully screened below the critical angle, is a phase transition from Coulomb law to perimeter law with the brane angle $\theta_b$ acting as an order parameter. This effect is also explored at finite temperature where we introduce a new regularization procedure to obtain closed-form results.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

The boundary entropy function for interface conformal field theories

{In 1+1 dimensional conformal field theory with a boundary the boundary contribution to the entanglement entropy is determined by a single number $g$ effectively counting the boundary degrees of freedom. In contrast, in 1+1 dimensional interface CFTs the corresponding quantity is a non-trivial {\it function} depending on the position of the interval relative to the interface, giving access to much more detailed information about the defect. In this work we determined this $g$-function in several examples using holography and derive some of its basic properties from holography and strong subadditivity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Transmission Coefficient of Super-Janus Solution

We calculate the transmission coefficient of the super-Janus interface conformal field theory, both at weak and at strong coupling, where latter is described holographically as a domain-wall solution on AdS$_2\times S^2\times M_4\times\Sigma$. Surprisingly we find perfect agreement between the free and strong coupling answer, mirroring a similar unexpected equivalence previously found for the entanglement entropy.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Universal Bound on Effective Central Charge and Its Saturation

The effective central charge (denoted by $c_{\text{eff}}$) is a measure of entanglement through a conformal interface, while the transmission coefficient (encoded in the coefficient $c_{LR}$ of the two-point function of the energy-momentum tensor across the interface) is a measure of energy transmission through the interface. It has been pointed out that these two are generally different. In this article, we propose the inequalities, $0 \leq c_{LR} \leq c_{\text{eff}} \leq \min (c_L,c_R)$. They have the simple but important implication that the amount of energy transmission can never exceed the amount of information transmission. We verify them using the AdS/CFT correspondence, using the perturbation method, and in examples beyond holography. We also show that these inequalities are sharp by constructing a class of interfaces that saturate them.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Universality of Effective Central Charge in Interface CFTs

When an interface connects two CFTs, the entanglement entropy between the two CFTs is determined by a quantity called the effective central charge. The effective central charge does not have a simple form in terms of the central charges of the two CFTs, but intricately depends on the transmissive properties of the interface. In this article, we examine universal properties of the effective central charge. We first clarify how the effective central charge appears when considering general subsystems of the interface CFT. Then using this result and ideas used in the proof of the $c$-theorem, we provide a universal upper bound on the effective central charge. In past studies, the effective central charge was defined only in two dimensions. We propose an analogue of the effective central charge in general dimensions possessing similar universal properties as in two dimensions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Constraining braneworlds with entanglement entropy

We propose swampland criteria for braneworlds viewed as effective field theories of defects coupled to semiclassical gravity. We do this by exploiting their holographic interpretation. We focus on general features of entanglement entropies and their holographic calculations. Entropies have to be positive. Furthermore, causality imposes certain constraints on the surfaces that are used holographically to compute them, most notably a property known as causal wedge inclusion. As a test case, we explicitly constrain the Dvali--Gabadadze--Porrati term as a second-order-in-derivatives correction to the Randall--Sundrum action. We conclude by discussing the implications of these criteria for the question on whether entanglement islands in theories with massless gravitons are possible in Karch--Randall braneworlds.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

AdS Higgs mechanism from double trace deformed CFT

Explicit breaking of a global symmetry in a conformal field theory is holographically dual to giving mass to a gauge field living in AdS via the Higgs mechanism. We show that if this breaking is induced via a double trace deformation the Higgs mechanism is induced via a scalar loop diagram. The mass can be calculated analytically in both bulk and field theory and we find perfect agreement. While representing familiar physics, the mechanism is identical to how the graviton picks up a mass in the holographic dual of a conformal field theory coupled to a bath.

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