Operator Size for Holographic Field Theories

Abstract

We formulate a state-dependent definition of operator size that captures the effective size of an operator acting on a reference state. We apply our definition to the SYK model and holographic 2-dimensional CFTs, generalizing the Qi-Streicher formula to a large class of geometries which includes pure AdS$_3$ and BTZ black holes. In pure AdS$_3$, the operator size is proportional to the global Hamiltonian at leading order in $1/N$, mirroring the results of Lin-Maldacena-Zhao in AdS$_2$. For BTZ geometries, it is given by the sum of the Kruskal momenta. Higher $1/N$ corrections become relevant when backreaction gets large, and we expect a transition in the growth pattern that depends on the transverse profile of the excitation. We propose a bulk dual that captures this profile dependence and exhibits saturation at a size of order the black hole entropy. This bulk dual is an averaged eikonal phase over a class of scattering events, and it can be interpreted as the "number of virtual gravitons" in the gravitational field created by an infaller.