Krylov Complexity in Open Quantum Systems

Abstract: Krylov complexity is a novel measure of operator complexity that exhibits universal behavior and bounds a large class of other measures. In this letter, we generalize Krylov complexity from a closed system to an open system coupled to a Markovian bath, where Lindbladian evolution replaces Hamiltonian evolution. We show that Krylov complexity in open systems can be mapped to a non-hermitian tight-binding model in a half-infinite chain. We discuss the properties of the non-hermitian terms and show that the strengths of the non-hermitian terms increase linearly with the increase of the Krylov basis index $n$. Such a non-hermitian tight-binding model can exhibit localized edge modes that determine the long-time behavior of Krylov complexity. Hence, the growth of Krylov complexity is suppressed by dissipation, and at long-time, Krylov complexity saturates at a finite value much smaller than that of a closed system with the same Hamitonian. Our conclusions are supported by numerical results on several models, such as the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model and the interacting fermion model. Our work provides insights for discussing complexity, chaos, and holography for open quantum systems.