We argue that the late time behavior of horizon fluctuations in large antide Sitter (AdS) black holes is governed by the random matrix dynamics characteristic of quantum chaotic systems. Our main tool is the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model, which we use as a simple model of a black hole. We use an analytically continued partition function |Z(β + it)| 2 as well as correlation functions as diagnostics. Using numerical techniques we establish random matrix behavior at late times. We determine the early time behavior exactly in a double scaling limit, giving us a plausible estimate for the crossover time to random matrix behavior. We use these ideas to formulate a conjecture about general large AdS black holes, like those dual to 4D super-Yang-Mills theory, giving a provisional estimate of the crossover time. We make some preliminary comments about challenges to understanding the late time dynamics from a bulk point of view.

We present the first Monte Carlo results for supersymmetric matrix quantum mechanics with sixteen supercharges at finite temperature. The recently proposed non-lattice simulation enables us to include the effects of fermionic matrices in a transparent and reliable manner. The internal energy nicely interpolates the weak coupling behavior obtained by the high temperature expansion, and the strong coupling behavior predicted from the dual black hole geometry. The Polyakov line takes large values even at low temperature suggesting the absence of a phase transition in sharp contrast to the bosonic case. These results provide highly non-trivial evidences for the gauge/gravity duality.

We perform a direct test of the gauge-gravity duality associated with the system of N D0-branes in type IIA superstring theory at finite temperature. Based on the fact that higher derivative corrections to the type IIA supergravity action start at the order of alpha;{'3}, we derive the internal energy in expansion around infinite 't Hooft coupling up to the subleading term with one unknown coefficient. The power of the subleading term is shown to be nicely reproduced by the Monte Carlo data obtained nonperturbatively on the gauge theory side at finite but large effective (dimensionless) 't Hooft coupling constant. This suggests, in particular, that the open strings attached to the D0-branes provide the microscopic origin of the black hole thermodynamics of the dual geometry including alpha;{'} corrections. The coefficient of the subleading term extracted from the fit to the Monte Carlo data provides a prediction for the gravity side.

The fine grained energy spectrum of quantum chaotic systems is widely believed to be described by random matrix statistics. A basic scale in such a system is the energy range over which this behavior persists. We define the corresponding time scale by the time at which the linearly growing ramp region in the spectral form factor begins. We call this time t ramp . The purpose of this paper is to study this scale in many-body quantum systems that display strong chaos, sometimes called scrambling systems. We focus on randomly coupled qubit systems, both local and k-local (all-to-all interactions) and the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. Using numerical results for Hamiltonian systems and analytic estimates for random quantum circuits we find the following results. For geometrically local systems with a conservation law we find t ramp is determined by the diffusion time across the system, order N 2 for a 1D chain of N qubits. This is analogous to the behavior found for local one-body chaotic systems. For a k-local system with conservation law the time is order log N but with a different prefactor and a different mechanism than the scrambling time. In the absence of any conservation laws, as in a generic random quantum circuit, we find t ramp ∼ log N , independent of connectivity.