Maximal Chaos from Strings, Branes and Schwarzian Action

Abstract

In this article, we explicitly demonstrate that, for a sufficiently generic class of examples, an open string embedded in an AdS-background yields an effective Schwarzian action and, in the semi-classical description, the fluctuation modes of the open string couple to this Schwarzian sector. This leads to a maximal chaos, observed in the open string degrees of freedom, irrespective of the gravitational background. This corresponds to the dynamics of quark-like degrees of freedom in a strongly coupled large N_c gauge theory. We also demonstrate a maximal chaos, resulting from an inherent D-brane horizon, by computing the four-point out-of-time-ordered correlator of spin-one operators. We also offer some observations and comments regarding a class of effective theories that is described by a generic functional of a Schwarzian derivative.