Quantum chaos in 2D gravity

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive non-perturbative analysis of quantum chaos in 2D gravity, revealing the role of universe field theory and causal symmetry in spectral correlations of the ergodic phase.

Contribution

It introduces a novel non-perturbative framework using universe field theory and flavor-matrix theory to understand quantum chaos in 2D gravity.

Findings

Demonstrates the universe field theory as an action principle with causal symmetry

Links causal symmetry breaking to topological D-brane vacua

Relates spectral correlations to geometric principles in string dualities

Abstract

We present a quantitative and fully non-perturbative description of the ergodic phase of quantum chaos in the setting of two-dimensional gravity. To this end we describe the doubly non-perturbative completion of semiclassical 2D gravity in terms of its associated universe field theory. The guiding principle of our analysis is a flavor-matrix theory (fMT) description of the ergodic phase of holographic gravity, which exhibits $\mathrm{U}(n|n)$ causal symmetry breaking and restoration. JT gravity and its 2D-gravity cousins alone do not realize an action principle with causal symmetry, however we demonstrate that their {\it universe field theory}, the Kodaira-Spencer (KS) theory of gravity, does. After directly deriving the fMT from brane-antibrane correlators in KS theory, we show that causal symmetry breaking and restoration can be understood geometrically in terms of different (topological) D-brane vacua. We interpret our results in terms of an open-closed string duality between holomorphic Chern-Simons theory and its closed-string equivalent, the KS theory of gravity. Emphasis will be put on relating these geometric principles to the characteristic spectral correlations of the quantum ergodic phase.