Circuit complexity in quantum field theory

A bstract Motivated by recent studies of holographic complexity, we examine the question of circuit complexity in quantum field theory. We provide a quantum circuit model for the preparation of Gaussian states, in particular the ground state, in a free scalar field theory for general dimensions. App...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe journal of high energy physics Vol. 2017; no. 10; pp. 1 - 81
Main Authors Jefferson, Robert A., Myers, Robert C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2017
Springer Nature B.V
SpringerOpen
Subjects
AdS-CFT Correspondence
Black Holes in String Theory
Circuits
Classical and Quantum Gravitation
Complexity
Effective Field Theories
Elementary Particles
Field theory
Ground state
High energy physics
Lattice Quantum Field Theory
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Field Theories
Quantum Field Theory
Quantum Physics
Quantum theory
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Relativity Theory
String Theory
Waveform analysis
Black Holes in String Theory
AdS-CFT Correspondence
Lattice Quantum Field Theory
Effective Field Theories
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:A bstract Motivated by recent studies of holographic complexity, we examine the question of circuit complexity in quantum field theory. We provide a quantum circuit model for the preparation of Gaussian states, in particular the ground state, in a free scalar field theory for general dimensions. Applying the geometric approach of Nielsen to this quantum circuit model, the complexity of the state becomes the length of the shortest geodesic in the space of circuits. We compare the complexity of the ground state of the free scalar field to the analogous results from holographic complexity, and find some surprising similarities.
ISSN:1029-8479
1029-8479
DOI:10.1007/JHEP10(2017)107