The holographic complexity has been studied in a background which includes a critical point in the dual field theory. We have examined how the complexity rate and the saturation time of dynamical variables in the theory behave as one moves towards the critical point. Two significant results of our analysis are that (i) it takes more time for the complexity in field theory dual to become time dependent as one moves away from the critical point and (ii) near the critical point the complexity starts evolving linearly in time sooner than the other points away from it. We also observe different behaviour for complexity rate in action and volume prescriptions. In action prescription we have used the time scales in theory to obtain the dynamical critical exponent and interestingly have observed that different time scales produce the same value up to very small error.
In the presence of finite chemical potential $mu$, we holographically compute the entanglement of purification in a $2+1$- and $3+1$-dimensional field theory and also in a $3+1$-dimensional field theory with a critical point. We observe that compared to $2+1$- and $3+1$-dimensional field theories, the behavior of entanglement of purification near critical point is different and it is not a monotonic function of $frac{mu}{T}$ where $T$ is the temperature of the field theory. Therefore, the entanglement of purification distinguishes the critical point in the field theory. We also discuss the dependence of the holographic entanglement of purification on the various parameters of the theories. Moreover, the critical exponent is calculated.
We study holographic subregion complexity, and its possible connection to purification complexity suggested recently by Agon et al. In particular, we study the conjecture that subregion complexity is the purification complexity by considering holographic purifications of a holographic mixed state. We argue that these include states with any amount of coarse-graining consistent with being a purification of the mixed state in question, corresponding holographically to different choices of the cutoff surface. We find that within the complexity = volume and complexity = spacetime volume conjectures, the subregion complexity is equal to the holographic purification complexity. For complexity = action, the subregion complexity seems to provide an upper bound on the holographic purification complexity, though we show cases where this bound is not saturated. One such example is provided by black holes with a large genus behind the horizon, which were studied by Fu et al. As such, one must conclude that these offending geometries are not holographic, that CA must be modified, or else that holographic subregion complexity in CA is not dual to the purification complexity of the corresponding reduced state.
Quantum complexity of a thermofield double state in a strongly coupled quantum field theory has been argued to be holographically related to the action evaluated on the Wheeler-DeWitt patch. The growth rate of quantum complexity in systems dual to Einstein-Hilbert gravity saturates a bound which follows from the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. We consider corrections to the growth rate in models with flavor degrees of freedom. They are realized by adding a small number of flavor branes to the system. Holographically, such corrections come from the DBI action of the flavor branes evaluated on the Wheeler-DeWitt patch. We relate corrections to the growth of quantum complexity to corrections to the mass of the system, and observe that the bound on the growth rate is never violated.
It is assumed that the holographic complexities such as the complexity-action (CA) and the complexity-volume (CV) conjecture are dual to complexity in field theory. However, because the definition of the complexity in field theory is still not complete, the confirmation of the holographic duality of the complexity is ambiguous. To improve this situation, we approach the problem from a different angle. We first identify minimal and genuin properties that the filed theory dual of the holographic complexity should satisfy without assuming anything from the circuit complexity or the information theory. Based on these properties, we propose a field theory formula dual to the holographic complexity. Our field theory formula implies that the complexity between certain states in two dimensional CFTs is given by the Liouville action, which is compatible with the path-integral complexity. It gives natural interpretations for both the CA and CV conjectures and identify what their reference states are. When applied to the thermo-field double states, it also gives consistent results with the holographic results in the CA conjecture: both the divergent term and finite term.
We use the complexity = action (CA) conjecture to study the full-time dependence of holographic complexity in anisotropic black branes. We find that the time behaviour of holographic complexity of anisotropic systems shares a lot of similarities with the behaviour observed in isotropic systems. In particular, the holographic complexity remains constant for some initial period, and then it starts to change so that the complexity growth rate violates the Lloyds bound at initial times, and approaches this bound from above at later times. Compared with isotropic systems at the same temperature, the anisotropy reduces the initial period in which the complexity is constant and increases the rate of change of complexity. At late times the difference between the isotropic and anisotropic results is proportional to the pressure difference in the transverse and longitudinal directions.