Page Curve for Local-Operator Entanglement from Free Probability

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Dowling, Neil, Pappalardi, Silvia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Dowling, Neil
Pappalardi, Silvia
author_facet Dowling, Neil
Pappalardi, Silvia
contents The local-operator entanglement (LOE) measures the classical simulability of a Heisenberg operator and is conjectured to witness many-body chaos in locally interacting systems. Using tools from free probability, we analytically compute its value for Haar random dynamics for all Rényi indices. We find that it asymptotically reproduces the Page curve for random states in the case of traceless operators, with exponentially deviating corrections. In contrast to higher-order out-of-time ordered correlators, which depend on operator correlations via free cumulants, the leading-order LOE is independent of the initial operator. Guided by our Haar result, we therefore argue that the long-time value of the LOE entropies in chaotic systems will depend only on autocorrelation functions of the initial operator up to exponentially small corrections, suggesting that the higher-order structure of the full Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis is not necessary to describe it.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_02995
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Page Curve for Local-Operator Entanglement from Free Probability
Dowling, Neil
Pappalardi, Silvia
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
Chaotic Dynamics
The local-operator entanglement (LOE) measures the classical simulability of a Heisenberg operator and is conjectured to witness many-body chaos in locally interacting systems. Using tools from free probability, we analytically compute its value for Haar random dynamics for all Rényi indices. We find that it asymptotically reproduces the Page curve for random states in the case of traceless operators, with exponentially deviating corrections. In contrast to higher-order out-of-time ordered correlators, which depend on operator correlations via free cumulants, the leading-order LOE is independent of the initial operator. Guided by our Haar result, we therefore argue that the long-time value of the LOE entropies in chaotic systems will depend only on autocorrelation functions of the initial operator up to exponentially small corrections, suggesting that the higher-order structure of the full Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis is not necessary to describe it.
title Page Curve for Local-Operator Entanglement from Free Probability
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
Chaotic Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02995