arXiv subjects

Vincenzo Scopelliti

Publications and source records attributed to Vincenzo Scopelliti.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Regularization dependence of the OTOC. Which Lyapunov spectrum is the physical one?

We study the contour dependence of the out-of-time-ordered correlation function (OTOC) both in weakly coupled field theory and in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. We show that its value, including its Lyapunov spectrum, depends sensitively on the shape of the complex time contour in generic weakly coupled field theories. For gapless theories with no thermal mass, such as SYK, the Lyapunov spectrum turns out to be an exception; their Lyapunov spectra do not exhibit contour dependence, though the full OTOCs do. Our result puts into question which of the Lyapunov exponents computed from the exponential growth of the OTOC reflects the actual physical dynamics of the system. We argue that, in a weakly coupled $Φ^4$ theory, a kinetic theory argument indicates that the symmetric configuration of the time contour, namely the one for which the bound on chaos has been proven, has a proper interpretation in terms of dynamical chaos. Finally, we point out that a relation between these OTOCs and a quantity which may be measured experimentally --- the Loschmidt echo --- also suggests a symmetric contour configuration, with the subtlety that the inverse periodicity in Euclidean time is half the physical temperature. In this interpretation the chaos bound reads $λ\leq \frac{2π}β= πT_{\text{physical}}$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Kinetic theory for classical and quantum many-body chaos

For perturbative scalar field theories, the late-time-limit of the out-of-time-ordered correlation function that measures (quantum) chaos is shown to be equal to a Boltzmann-type kinetic equation that measures the total gross (instead of net) particle exchange between phase space cells, weighted by a function of energy. This derivation gives a concrete form to numerous attempts to derive chaotic many-body dynamics from ad hoc kinetic equations. A period of exponential growth in the total gross exchange determines the Lyapunov exponent of the chaotic system. Physically, the exponential growth is a front propagating into an unstable state in phase space. As in conventional Boltzmann transport, which follows from the dynamics of the net particle number density exchange, the kernel of this kinetic integral equation is also set by the 2-to-2 scattering rate. This provides a mathematically precise statement of the known fact that in dilute weakly coupled gases transport and scrambling (or ergodicity) are controlled by the same physics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Black hole scrambling from hydrodynamics

We argue that the gravitational shock wave computation used to extract the scrambling rate in strongly coupled quantum theories with a holographic dual is directly related to probing the system's hydrodynamic sound modes. The information recovered from the shock wave can be reconstructed in terms of purely diffusion-like, linearized gravitational waves at the horizon of a single-sided black hole with specific regularity-enforced imaginary values of frequency and momentum. In two-derivative bulk theories, this horizon "diffusion" can be related to late-time momentum diffusion via a simple relation, which ceases to hold in higher-derivative theories. We then show that the same values of imaginary frequency and momentum follow from a dispersion relation of a hydrodynamic sound mode. The frequency, momentum and group velocity give the holographic Lyapunov exponent and the butterfly velocity. Moreover, at this special point along the sound dispersion relation curve, the residue of the retarded longitudinal stress-energy tensor two-point function vanishes. This establishes a direct link between a hydrodynamic sound mode at an analytically continued, imaginary momentum and the holographic butterfly effect. Furthermore, our results imply that infinitely strongly coupled, large-$N_c$ holographic theories exhibit properties similar to classical dilute gasses; there, late-time equilibration and early-time scrambling are also controlled by the same dynamics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Hydrodynamic charge and heat transport on inhomogeneous curved spaces

We develop the theory of hydrodynamic charge and heat transport in strongly interacting quasi-relativistic systems on manifolds with inhomogeneous spatial curvature. In solid-state physics, this is analogous to strain disorder in the underlying lattice. In the hydrodynamic limit, we find that the thermal and electrical conductivities are dominated by viscous effects, and that the thermal conductivity is most sensitive to this disorder. We compare the effects of inhomogeneity in the spatial metric to inhomogeneity in the chemical potential, and discuss the extent to which our hydrodynamic theory is relevant for experimentally realizable condensed matter systems, including suspended graphene at the Dirac point.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Spin connection as Lorentz gauge field: propagating torsion

We propose a modified gravitational action containing besides the Einstein-Cartan term some quadratic contributions resembling the Yang-Mills lagrangian for the Lorentz spin connections. We outline how a propagating torsion arises and we solve explicitly the linearised equations of motion on a Minkowski background. We identify among torsion components six degrees of freedom: one is carried by a pseudo-scalar particle, five by a tachyon field. By adding spinor fields and neglecting backreaction on the geometry, we point out how only the pseudo-scalar particle couples directly with fermions, but the resulting coupling constant is suppressed by the ratio between fermion and Planck masses. Including backreaction, we demonstrate how the tachyon field provides causality violation in the matter sector, via an interaction mediated by gravitational waves.

gr-qc↗