Speaker
Description
The butterfly effect provides a sharp diagnostic of information scrambling in large‑N quantum many‑body systems. In holographic theories with a semiclassical gravity dual, it can be accessed through several a priori distinct probes: the exponential growth of OTOCs, pole skipping in retarded thermal correlators, and the late‑time growth of entanglement wedges sourced by boundary operator insertions. Recent work has suggested that these probes are governed by a common underlying bulk mechanism. In this talk, I examine the extent to which this relation persists in general holographic theories and, in particular, in anisotropic black brane backgrounds. Focusing on EMDA geometries as a representative class, I track how the directional butterfly velocities depend on the scaling exponents of the metric and compare the resulting reality conditions with the canonical heat capacity and local thermodynamic stability. I then analyze how these conditions relate to the stalling versus scrambling behavior of boundary‑generated null probes, clarifying when the geodesic/shockwave picture is dynamically realized. Time permitting, I will also discuss the late‑time decay of OTOCs and its connection to emergent freeness between operator insertions. This talk is based on ongoing work.