Strings, Branes, Schwarzian Action and Maximal Chaos

Abstract

In this article, we present explicit evidence that maximal chaos occurs for a generic, probe quark-like defect degrees of freedom, in a strongly coupled large $N_c$ gauge theory. In holography, this corresponds to the dynamics of open string degrees of freedom, in the background of a closed string geometry. In this context, we explicitly show that a Schwarzian effective action for the soft sector emerges and couples with other modes, in the infra-red. This is manifest on an open string worldsheet, as well as a D$1$-brane world-volume, embedded in AdS$_3$. The corresponding maximal chaos is governed by an intrinsic defect D-brane horizon, and an intrinsic non-linear description of the brane or the string. We also present explicit evidence of maximal chaos away from extremality on a D-brane horizon, by computing a four-point out-of-time order correlator of spin-one operators. This further suggests that a similar description of the soft sector physics of open string degrees of freedom may exist in general.