arXiv subjects

Micha Berkooz

Publications and source records attributed to Micha Berkooz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Comments on Class S(YK)

We present a DSSYK-like interpretation of the Schur half-indices of $\mathcal{N}=2$ $SU(2)$ gauge theories with matter, in the presence of fundamental Wilson lines. The Schur half-indices of these theories can be understood as transition amplitudes in a non-vacuum sector of ordinary DSSYK. In the language of chord diagrams, the half-indices are obtained by summing over diagrams with special segments, which correspond to coherent states of the $q$-oscillator algebra. In addition, we show that the Schur half-index of $SU(2)$ gauge theory with $n_F=4$ fundamental half-hypermultiplets corresponds to the partition function of a particle on the quantum disk.

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arXiv2025

Twisted times, the Schwarzian and its deformations in DSSYK

The IR dynamics of SYK is that of the Schwarzian theory, the effective theory of broken reparametrization invariance. In the double scaling limit, SYK is completely solvable by chord diagrams, whose generating functional is a bilocal Liouville theory. At low temperatures a set of modes in this description becomes soft. We interpret them as reparametrization of some twisted time coordinates, and show explicitly that they lead to the nonlinear Schwarzian theory. We further consider deformations of the theory in the double scaling limit, giving rise to diagrams with multiple species of chords, and show that the generating functional is now a Liouville theory with multiple fields. These deformations can be tracked to the IR and we discuss how they affect the Schwarzian.

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arXiv2024

A Cordial Introduction to Double Scaled SYK

We review recent progress regarding the double scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model and other $p$-local quantum mechanical random Hamiltonians. These models exhibit an expansion using chord diagrams, which can be solved by combinatorial methods. We describe exact results in these models, including their spectrum, correlation functions, and Lyapunov exponent. In a certain limit, these techniques manifest the relation to the Schwarzian quantum mechanics, a theory of quantum gravity in $AdS_2$. More generally, the theory is controlled by a rigid algebraic structure of a quantum group, suggesting a theory of quantum gravity on non-commutative $q$-deformed $AdS_2$. We conclude with discussion of related universality classes, and survey some of the current research directions.

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arXiv2024

From Chaos to Integrability in Double Scaled SYK via a Chord Path Integral

We study thermodynamic phase transitions between integrable and chaotic dynamics. We do so by analyzing models that interpolate between the chaotic double scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) and the integrable $p$-spin systems, in a limit where they are described by chord diagrams. We develop a path integral formalism by coarse graining over the diagrams, which we use to argue that the system has two distinct phases: one is continuously connected to the chaotic system, and the other to the integrable. They are separated by a line of first order transition that ends at some finite temperature.

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arXiv2024

A Path Integral for Chord Diagrams and Chaotic-Integrable Transitions in Double Scaled SYK

We study transitions from chaotic to integrable Hamiltonians in the double scaled SYK and $p$-spin systems. The dynamics of our models is described by chord diagrams with two species. We begin by developing a path integral formalism of coarse graining chord diagrams with a single species of chords, which has the same equations of motion as the bi-local ($GΣ$) Liouville action, yet appears otherwise to be different and in particular well defined. We then develop a similar formalism for two types of chords, allowing us to study different types of deformations of double scaled SYK and in particular a deformation by an integrable Hamiltonian. The system has two distinct thermodynamic phases: one is continuously connected to the chaotic SYK Hamiltonian, the other is continuously connected to the integrable Hamiltonian, separated at low temperature by a first order phase transition. We also analyze the phase diagram for generic deformations, which in some cases includes a zero-temperature phase transition.

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arXiv2024

Parisi's hypercube, Fock-space fluxes, and the microscopics of near-AdS$_2$/near-CFT$_1$ duality

Parisi's hypercube model describes a charged particle hopping on a $d$-dimensional hypercube with disordered background fluxes in the large $d$ limit. It was noted previously [Jia and Verbaarschot, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2020) 154] that the hypercube model at leading order in $1/d$ has the same spectral density as the double-scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (DS-SYK) model. In this work we identify the set of observables that have the same correlation functions as the DS-SYK model, demonstrating that the hypercube model is an equally good microscopic model for near-AdS$_2$/near-CFT$_1$ holography. Unlike the SYK model, the hypercube model is not $p$-local. Rather, we note that the shared feature between the two models is that they both have a large amount of disordered but uniform fluxes on their Fock-space graphs, and we propose this is a broader characterization of near-CFT$_1$ microscopics. Moreover, we suggest that the hypercube model can be viewed as the operator growth model of the DS-SYK model. We explain some universality in subleading corrections and relate them to bulk vertices. Finally, we revise a claim made the aforementioned reference about the existence of a spectral gap.

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arXiv2024

Parisi's hypercube, Fock-space frustration and near-AdS$_2$/near-CFT$_1$ holography

We consider a model of Parisi where a single particle hops on an infinite-dimensional hypercube, under the influence of a uniform but disordered magnetic flux. We reinterpret the hypercube as the Fock-space graph of a many-body Hamiltonian and the flux as a frustration of the return amplitudes in Fock space. We will identify the set of observables that have the same correlation functions as the double-scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (DS-SYK) model, and hence the hypercube model is an equally good quantum model for near-AdS$_2$/near-CFT$_{1}$ (NAdS$_2$/NCFT$_1$) holography. Unlike the SYK model, the hypercube Hamiltonian is not $p$ local. Instead, the SYK model can be understood as a Fock-space model with similar frustrations. Hence we propose this type of Fock-space frustration as the broader characterization for NAdS$_2$/NCFT$_1$ microscopics, which encompasses the hypercube and the DS-SYK models as two specific examples. We then speculate on the possible origin of such frustrations.

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arXiv2022

Quantum groups, non-commutative $AdS_2$, and chords in the double-scaled SYK model

We study the double-scaling limit of SYK (DS-SYK) model and elucidate the underlying quantum group symmetry. The DS-SYK model is characterized by a parameter $q$, and in the $q\rightarrow 1$ and low-energy limit it goes over to the familiar Schwarzian theory. We relate the chord and transfer-matrix picture to the motion of a ``boundary particle" on the Euclidean Poincar{é} disk, which underlies the single-sided Schwarzian model. $AdS_2$ carries an action of $\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}(2,{\mathbb R}) \simeq \mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{u}(1,1)$, and we argue that the symmetry of the full DS-SYK model is a certain $q$-deformation of the latter, namely $\mathcal{U}_{\sqrt q}(\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{u}(1,1))$. We do this by obtaining the effective Hamiltonian of the DS-SYK as a (reduction of) particle moving on a lattice deformation of $AdS_2$, which has this $\mathcal{U}_{\sqrt q}(\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{u}(1,1))$ algebra as its symmetry. We also exhibit the connection to non-commutative geometry of $q$-homogeneous spaces, by obtaining the effective Hamiltonian of the DS-SYK as a (reduction of) particle moving on a non-commutative deformation of $AdS_3$. There are families of possibly distinct $q$-deformed $AdS_2$ spaces, and we point out which are relevant for the DS-SYK model.

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arXiv2022

The onset of quantum chaos in disordered CFTs

We study the Lyapunov exponent $λ_L$ in quantum field theories with spacetime-independent disorder interactions. Generically $λ_L$ can only be computed at isolated points in parameter space, and little is known about the way in which chaos grows as we deform the theory away from weak coupling. In this paper we describe families of theories in which the disorder coupling is an exactly marginal deformation, allowing us to follow $λ_L$ from weak to strong coupling. We find surprising behaviors in some cases, including a discontinuous transition into chaos. We also derive self-consistency equations for the two- and four-point functions for products of $N$ nontrivial CFTs deformed by disorder at leading order in $1/N$.

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arXiv2022

Onset of Quantum Chaos in Random Field Theories

We study the quantum Lyapunov exponent $λ_L$ in theories with spacetime-independent disorder. We first derive self-consistency equations for the two- and four-point functions for products of $N$ models coupled by disorder at large $N$, generalizing the equations appearing in SYK-like models. We then study families of theories in which the disorder coupling is an exactly marginal deformation, allowing us to follow $λ_L$ from weak to strong coupling. We find interesting behaviors, including a discontinuous transition into chaos, mimicking classical KAM theory.

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arXiv2022

Going beyond ER=EPR in the SYK model

We discuss generalizations of the TFD to a density matrix on the doubled Hilbert space. We suggest that a semiclassical wormhole corresponds to a certain class of such density matrices, and specify how they are constructed. Different semi-classical profiles correspond to different non-overlapping density matrices. We show that this language allows for a finer criteria for when the wormhole is semiclassical, which goes beyond entanglement. Our main tool is the SYK model. We focus on the simplest class of such density matrices, in a scaling limit where the ER bridge is captured by chords going from one space to another, encoding correlations in the microscopic Hamiltonian. The length of the wormhole simply encodes the extent these correlations are eroded when flowing from one side to the other.

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arXiv2021

Multi-trace Correlators in the SYK Model and Non-geometric Wormholes

We consider multi-energy level distributions in the SYK model, and in particular, the role of global fluctuations in the density of states of the SYK model. The connected contributions to the moments of the density of states go to zero as $N \to \infty$, however, they are much larger than the standard RMT correlations. We provide a diagrammatic description of the leading behavior of these connected moments, showing that the dominant diagrams are given by 1PI cactus graphs, and derive a vector model of the couplings which reproduces these results. We generalize these results to the first subleading corrections, and to fluctuations of correlation functions. In either case, the new set of correlations between traces (i.e. between boundaries) are not associated with, and are much larger than, the ones given by topological wormholes. The connected contributions that we discuss are the beginning of an infinite series of terms, associated with more and more information about the ensemble of couplings, which hints towards the dual of a single realization. In particular, we suggest that incorporating them in the gravity description requires the introduction of new, lighter and lighter, fields in the bulk with fluctuating boundary couplings.

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arXiv2020

Complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model in the double scaling limit

We solve for the exact energy spectrum, 2-point and 4-point functions of the complex SYK model, in the double scaling limit at all energy scales. This model has a $U(1)$ global symmetry. The analysis shows how to incorporate a chemical potential in the chord diagram picture, and we present results for the various observables also at a given fixed charge sector. In addition to matching to the spectral asymmetry, we consider an analogous asymmetry measure of the 2-point function obeying a non-trivial dependence on the operator's dimension. We also provide the chord diagram structure for an SYK-like model that has a $U(M)$ global symmetry at any disorder realization. We then show how to exactly compute the effect of inserting very heavy operators, with formally infinite conformal dimension. The latter separate the gravitational spacetime into several parts connected by an interface, whose properties are exactly computable at all scales. In particular, light enough states can still go between the spaces. This behavior has a simple description in the chord diagram picture.

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arXiv2020

The double scaled limit of Super--Symmetric SYK models

We compute the exact density of states and 2-point function of the $\mathcal{N} =2$ super-symmetric SYK model in the large $N$ double-scaled limit, by using combinatorial tools that relate the moments of the distribution to sums over oriented chord diagrams. In particular we show how SUSY is realized on the (highly degenerate) Hilbert space of chords. We further calculate analytically the number of ground states of the model in each charge sector at finite $N$, and compare it to the results from the double-scaled limit. Our results reduce to the super-Schwarzian action in the low energy short interaction length limit. They imply that the conformal ansatz of the 2-point function is inconsistent due to the large number of ground states, and we show how to add this contribution. We also discuss the relation of the model to $SL_q(2|1)$. For completeness we present an overview of the $\mathcal{N}=1$ super-symmetric SYK model in the large $N$ double-scaled limit.

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arXiv2019

Towards a full solution of the large N double-scaled SYK model

We compute the exact, all energy scale, 4-point function of the large $N$ double-scaled SYK model, by using only combinatorial tools and relating the correlation functions to sums over chord diagrams. We apply the result to obtain corrections to the maximal Lyapunov exponent at low temperatures. We present the rules for the non-perturbative diagrammatic description of correlation functions of the entire model. The latter indicate that the model can be solved by a reduction of a quantum deformation of SL$(2)$, that generalizes the Schwarzian to the complete range of energies.

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arXiv2018

Chord diagrams, exact correlators in spin glasses and black hole bulk reconstruction

The exact 2-point function of certain physically motivated operators in SYK-like spin glass models is computed, bypassing the Schwinger-Dyson equations. The models possess an IR low energy conformal window, but our results are exact at all time scales. The main tool developed is a new approach to the combinatorics of chord diagrams, allowing to rewrite the spin glass system using an auxiliary Hilbert space, and Hamiltonian, built on the space of open chord diagrams. We argue the latter can be interpreted as the bulk description and that it reduces to the Schwarzian action in the low energy limit.

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arXiv2017

Comments on the Random Thirring Model

The Thirring model with random couplings is a translationally invariant generalisation of the SYK model to 1+1 dimensions, which is tractable in the large N limit. We compute its two point function, at large distances, for any strength of the random coupling. For a given realisation, the couplings contain both irrelevant and relevant marginal operators, but statistically, in the large N limit, the random couplings are overall always marginally irrelevant, in sharp distinction to the usual Thirring model. We show the leading term to the $β$ function in conformal perturbation theory, which is quadratic in the couplings, vanishes, while its usually subleading cubic term matches our RG flow.

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arXiv2016

Higher Dimensional Generalizations of the SYK Model

We discuss a 1+1 dimensional generalization of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. The model contains $N$ Majorana fermions at each lattice site with a nearest-neighbour hopping term. The SYK random interaction is restricted to low momentum fermions of definite chirality within each lattice site. This gives rise to an ordinary 1+1 field theory above some energy scale and a low energy SYK-like behavior. We exhibit a class of low-pass filters which give rise to a rich variety of hyperscaling behaviour in the IR. We also discuss another set of generalizations which describes probing an SYK system with an external fermion, together with the new scaling behavior they exhibit in the IR.

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