Instantons and the quantum bound to chaos

Abstract

We investigate why the Lyapunov exponents $\lambda$ of out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) satisfy a universal bound $\lambda < 2 \pi k_B T/{\hbar}$ by probing imaginary-time path-integral space using ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) for a barrier-crossing model. We find that the RPMD OTOC satisfies the same bound as the quantum OTOC, which is caused by the stability of quantum thermal fluctuations around the instanton on the barrier. We expect that similar instantons (or other delocalised structures) will be found in many other systems with exponentially growing OTOCs.