different. Roughly, we can think of the supersymmetric SYK behaving like the square of
Gaussian random matrices, which are the Wishart ensembles. For more details, see [18] as
well as an extension of the classification to the N = 2 supersymmetric models [15].
Speaking generally, there a number of reasons one might wish to consider supersymmet-
ric generalizations of SYK. For instance, much is understood about the low-energy physics
in nearly AdS
2
spacetimes purportedly dual to the low-energy dynamics in SYK, but the
exact holographic dual of the theory is not know. As many of the best understood exam-
ples of AdS/CFT are supersymmetric, one might hope that this particular construction
might provide guidance on the correct UV completion of the SYK model. Less ambitiously,
considering the supersymmetric models might be useful in contructing higher dimension
analogs [12].
2.2 Spectral form factor
Quantum chaotic systems are often defined to have the spectral statistics of a random ma-
trix. An object familiar in random matrix theory which exhibits these universal properties
is the spectral form factor. We will introduce this object more precisely in our review of
random matrix theory in section 3.1, but the 2-point spectral form factor R
2
(t, β) can be
given simply in terms of the analytically continued partition function
R
2
(t, β) ≡
Z(β, t)Z
∗
(β, t)
, where Z(β, t) ≡ Tr
e
−βH−itH
, (2.4)
and where the average h·i is taken over an ensemble of Hamiltonians (e.g. SYK, or some
disordered spin system, or a random matrix ensemble). This object was discussed more
recently in [27], where they studied the form factor in SYK and found that the theory
revealed random matrix behavior at late times. From the bulk point of view, one motivation
for studying this object was a simple version of black hole information loss [32]: 2-point
functions appear to decay exponentially in terms of local bulk variables, whereas a discrete
spectrum implies a finite late-time value. The same inconsistency is apparent in the spectral
form factor.
Some characteristic features of the time-evolved form factor R
2
(t), exhibited in both
the SYK model and in random matrix theories, are: an early time decay from an initial
value called the slope, a crossover at intermediate times called the dip, a steady linear
rise called the ramp, and a late-time floor called the plateau. In figure 1 we observe
these features in SYK. While the early time decay depends on the specific system, the
ramp and plateau should be universal features of quantum chaotic systems. The ramp is
characteristic of spectral rigidity: the long-range logarithmic repulsion of eigenvalues. The
anticorrleation of eigenvalues causes the linear increase in the form factor. At late times,
or at energy scales smaller than the mean spacing, the form factor reaches a plateau as
degeneracies are rare and neighboring eigenvalues repel in chaotic systems.
SYK form factor and GUE. Recently, [27] studied the form factor in SYK and found
agreement with random matrix theory, showing analytically and numerically the aspects
of the dip, ramp, and plateau of SYK agree with those of the Gaussian unitary ensemble
– 4 –