English

Krylov Complexity and $c$-function along RG Flows

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-08-03 v1

Abstract

We investigate Krylov spread complexity along holographic renormalisation-group flows using the proposal that its growth rate is captured by the proper radial momentum of an in-falling massive probe. We focus on the second time derivative of the complexity U{U}, which is determined locally by the redshift and radial metric functions of the dual geometry. For Lorentz-invariant domain-wall flows preserving the spacetime dimension, we derive a new relation between U{U} and the covariant central charge ccovc_{\text{cov}}. The decrease of the covariant central function towards the infrared is accompanied by a monotonic increase of the complexity acceleration. For the top-down Dp-brane family, we obtain a universal relation. We then examine flows across dimensions, including a twisted compactification from four to two dimensions and from six to four dimensions. In these examples ccovc_{\rm cov} and U{U } are co-monotonic, in sharp contrast with the inverse correlation characteristic of fixed-dimensional flows. We argue that this reversal reflects the reorganisation, rather than simple depletion, of degrees of freedom into lower-dimensional sectors under compactification. Our results identify complexity acceleration as a sensitive geometric diagnostic connecting information spreading, holographic central functions and RG evolution.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.02715,
  title  = {Krylov Complexity and $c$-function along RG Flows},
  author = {Carlos Nunez and Dibakar Roychowdhury},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.02715},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

20 pages, various figures