Abstract:
Black holes are strongly chaotic quantum systems: small perturbations to its state grow exponentially in time. In holographic theories, this can be quantified by the butterfly velocity, defined using out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs) or entanglement wedge reconstruction, which can in principle be different. There are many explicit calculations showing that the two velocities are in fact equal, including in theories with higher curvature corrections, but there was no general explanation for this apparent coincidence. We show that it follows from a deeper relationship between replica manifolds, shockwaves, and the so-called pole skipping mode in the thermal two-point function.
Based on [2504.08139] with Wan Zhen Chua and Thomas Hartman.