A Cordial Introduction to Double Scaled SYK

Abstract: We review recent progress regarding the double scaled Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model and other $p$-local quantum mechanical random Hamiltonians. These models exhibit an expansion using chord diagrams, which can be solved by combinatorial methods. We describe exact results in these models, including their spectrum, correlation functions, and Lyapunov exponent. In a certain limit, these techniques manifest the relation to the Schwarzian quantum mechanics, a theory of quantum gravity in $AdS_2$. More generally, the theory is controlled by a rigid algebraic structure of a quantum group, suggesting a theory of quantum gravity on non-commutative $q$-deformed $AdS_2$. We conclude with discussion of related universality classes, and survey some of the current research directions.