Switchbacks and the Bridge to Nowhere

Abstract

This paper is in three parts: Part 1 explains the relevance of Einstein-Rosen bridges for one-sided black holes. Like their two-sided counterparts, one-sided black holes are connected to ERBs whose growth tracks the increasing complexity of the quantum state. Quantitative solutions for one-sided ERBs are presented in the appendix. Part 2 calls attention to the work of Nielsen and collaborators on the geometry of quantum complexity. This geometric formulation of complexity provides a valuable tool for studying the evolution of complexity for systems such as black holes. Part 3 applies the Nielsen approach to geometrize two related black hole quantum phenomena: the rapid mixing of information through fast-scrambling; and the time dependence of the complexity of precursors, in particular the switchback effect.