The bulk Hilbert space of double scaled SYK

Abstract: The emergence of the bulk Hilbert space is a mysterious concept in holography. In arXiv:1811.02584, the SYK model was solved in the double scaling limit by summing chord diagrams. Here, we explicitly construct the bulk Hilbert space of double scaled SYK by slicing open these chord diagrams; this Hilbert space resembles that of a lattice field theory where the length of the lattice is dynamical and determined by the chord number. Under a calculable bulk-to-boundary map, states of fixed chord number map to particular entangled 2-sided states with a corresponding size. This bulk reconstruction is well-defined even when quantum gravity effects are important. Acting on the double scaled Hilbert space is a Type II$_1$ algebra of observables, which includes the Hamiltonian and matter operators. In the appropriate quantum Schwarzian limit, we also identify the JT gravitational algebra including the physical SL(2,R) symmetry generators, and obtain explicit representations of the algebra using chord diagram techniques.