Are fast scramblers good thermal baths?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the SYK$_{4}$ model, known for fast scrambling, also functions effectively as a thermal bath capable of thermalizing coupled systems, using Keldysh techniques to compare with conventional baths.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the SYK$_{4}$ model is more efficient at thermalizing weakly coupled systems due to its low-frequency density of states, providing new insights into its thermal bath capabilities.

Findings

SYK$_{4}$ bath enhances low-frequency density of states.

More efficient thermalization at weak coupling.

Similar thermalization times at strong coupling.

Abstract

The Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK$_{4}$) model has attracted attention for its fast scrambling properties and its thermalization rate that is set only by the temperature. In this work we ask the question of whether the SYK$_{4}$ model is also a good thermal bath, in the sense that it allows a system coupled to it to thermalize. We address this question by considering the dynamics of a system of $N$ random non-interacting Majorana fermions coupled to an SYK$_{4}$ bath with $M$ Majorana fermions that we solve with Keldysh techniques in the limit of $M\gg N\gg 1$. We compare this nonequilibrium setting with a conventional bath made of free non-interacting degrees of freedom with a continous spectrum. We show that the SYK$_{4}$ bath is more efficient in thermalising the system at weak coupling, due to its enhanced density of states at low frequency, while at strong system-bath couplings both type of environments give rise to a similar time scale for thermalisation.