Signatures of Chaos in Non-integrable Models of Quantum Field Theory

Miha Srdinsek, Tomaz Prosen, Spyros Sotiriadis

Published 2020-12-15, updated 2021-04-01Version 2

We study signatures of quantum chaos in (1+1)D Quantum Field Theory (QFT) models. Our analysis is based on the method of Hamiltonian truncation, a numerical approach for the construction of low-energy spectra and eigenstates of QFTs that can be considered as perturbations of exactly solvable models. We focus on the double sine-Gordon, also studying the massive sine-Gordon and ${\phi^4}$ model, all of which are non-integrable and can be studied by this method with sufficiently high precision from small to intermediate perturbation strength. We analyze the statistics of level spacings and of eigenvector components, both of which are expected to follow Random Matrix Theory predictions. While level spacing statistics are close to the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble as expected, on the contrary, the eigenvector components follow a distribution markedly different from the expected Gaussian. Unlike in the typical quantum chaos scenario, the transition of level spacing statistics to chaotic behaviour takes place already in the perturbative regime. On the other hand, the distribution of eigenvector components does not appear to change or approach Gaussian behaviour, even for relatively large perturbations. Moreover, our results suggest that these features are independent of the choice of model and basis.