From Confinement to Chaos in AdS/CFT Correspondence via Non-equilibrium Local States

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamics of excited states in AdS/CFT, exploring how local operator quenches evolve in confining backgrounds and revealing connections to random matrix theory, especially for heavy operators.

Contribution

It introduces a confining deformation via a hard wall in AdS, analyzes the resulting dynamics, and links spectral statistics to Gaussian ensembles, extending to BTZ black holes.

Findings

Heavy operators' spectral statistics resemble GSE.

Confining deformation affects temporal correlation peaks.

Similar trends observed in BTZ black hole backgrounds.

Abstract

In this paper, we study excited states in Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space prepared by local operator insertions of a massive scalar field, corresponding to local operator quenches in a free bulk scalar theory. Using the AdS/CFT correspondence, we compute the time evolution of boundary observables in the dual CFT states. We then introduce a hard wall in AdS Poincare coordinates to impose an infrared cutoff (hard-wall), creating a confining deformation of the dual conformal field theory, and analyze the dynamics of excited states in this confining background. By comparing the evolution of boundary two-point correlation functions in the deformed theory to the statistics of Gaussian random matrix ensembles, we show that for sufficiently heavy operators, the spacing-ratio statistics of peaks in temporal dynamics are closest to those of the Gaussian Symplectic Ensemble (GSE). Finally, we extend the analysis to the compact BTZ black hole and to its hard-wall deformation, finding qualitatively similar trends.