BMN Spread Complexity Across Phase Transitions

Abstract

We investigate the dynamical behavior and spread complexity of quantum states within the mass-deformed BMN matrix model equipped with an emergent $U(1)$ global charge at finite temperature $\beta^{-1}$ and chemical potential $\nu$. Focusing on the strong-coupling regime ($\mu \gg 1$), we model the dynamics via a charged Thermofield Double (cTFD) state and trace the evolution of spread complexity across three distinct thermodynamic regimes. In the low-temperature gapped phase ($\beta \mu \gg 1$), discrete mass-gap bound states dominate, trapping wavepacket dispersion and producing non-chaotic, oscillatory early-time growth. Conversely, in the high-temperature continuum phase ($\beta \mu \ll 1$), thermal excitations overwhelm the mass gap, driving a transition to a continuous advection field that exhibits maximal chaotic scrambling with a Krylov Lyapunov exponent $\lambda_K = \pi / \beta$ that saturates the universal bound. In the intermediate temperature regime ($\beta \mu \sim 1, \beta \nu \sim 1$), the interplay between mass-gap bound states and the continuous thermal background induces a sub-leading correction to the Lanczos coefficients $b_n \sim \frac{\pi}{\beta} n + \gamma \sqrt{n}$, governing a continuous sub-exponential crossover before full chaotic thermalization. Technical derivations regarding KMS boundary conditions, grand canonical spectral moments, residue analysis, and time-reversal symmetry breaking in Krylov space are detailed in four dedicated appendices.