SYK Model — Maximal Quantum Chaos

Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev: random all-to-all interactions, non-Fermi liquid, holographic black holes




Spectral Density ρ(E)

Spectral Form Factor K(t)

OTOC Growth C(t) = -⟨[W(t),V]²⟩

Green's Function & Self-Energy

SYK model (Sachdev-Ye 1993, Kitaev 2015): H = (1/4!)Σᵢⱼₖₗ Jᵢⱼₖₗ ψᵢψⱼψₖψₗ where Jᵢⱼₖₗ are random Gaussian couplings. It is maximally chaotic: the Lyapunov exponent saturates the MSS bound λ_L = 2π/β (Maldacena-Shenker-Stanwood 2015). The spectral density → semicircle at high E (random matrix), but shows non-Fermi liquid behavior: Σ(ω) ~ ω^{1/2} (IR fixed point). The Spectral Form Factor K(t) shows a dip-ramp-plateau structure — the linear ramp encodes level repulsion (quantum chaos). SYK is dual to a near-extremal black hole (Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity), making it a solvable model of quantum gravity.