Complexity in tame quantum theories

TW Grimm, L Schlechter, M van Vliet*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Inspired by the notion that physical systems can contain only a finite amount of information or complexity, we introduce a framework that allows for quantifying the amount of logical information needed to specify a function or set. We then apply this methodology to a variety of physical systems and derive the complexity of parameter-dependent physical observables and coupling functions appearing in effective Lagrangians. In order to implement these ideas, it is essential to consider physical theories that can be defined in an o-minimal structure. O-minimality, a concept from mathematical logic, encapsulates a tameness principle. It was recently argued that this property is inherent to many known quantum field theories and is linked to the UV completion of the theory. To assign a complexity to each statement in these theories one has to further constrain the allowed o-minimal structures. To exemplify this, we show that many physical systems can be formulated using Pfaffian o-minimal structures, which have a well-established notion of complexity. More generally, we propose adopting sharply o-minimal structures, recently introduced by Binyamini and Novikov, as an overarching framework to measure complexity in quantum theories.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1
Number of pages43
JournalJournal of High Energy Physics
Volume2024
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 May 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

We profited immensely from discussions with Lou van den Dries and Gal Binyamini and would like to thank them for sharing their insights and understanding with us. Furthermore, would like to thank Benjamin Bakker, Michael Douglas, Gerard \u2019t Hooft, Damian van de Heisteeg, Ro Jefferson, and Cumrun Vafa for useful discussions and comments. This research is supported, in part, by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) via a Vici grant.

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

    Keywords

    • Differential and Algebraic Geometry
    • Effective Field Theories
    • Integrable Field Theories

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