Dr Aranya Bhattacharya
BSc, MSc, PhD
Expertise
My work lies in the overlap between quantum information theory, holography, and quantum many body physics. I use quantum information measures for operator and state growth to study quantum dynamics.
Current positions
Senior Research Associate
School of Mathematics
Contact
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Biography
Following my undergrad and masters, I started my PhD at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (named after the famous Indian scientist Meghnad Saha), Kolkata under the supervision of Prof. Shibaji Roy. During this period, I worked on holographic quantum information and complexity. My focus was on studying quantum informational aspects of various black holes within AdS/CFT. Since finishing my PhD in 2021, I have held three postdoctoral positions at Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (2021-2023), Jagiellonian University Krakow (2023-2025) and University of Bristol (2025-present).
During my postdoctoral stints, I have continued my studies of complexity by extending their understanding further in non-hermitian, measurement-induced and open quantum systems. I have also defined a notion of complexity for highly excited string scattering amplitudes. The complexity measure, namely the Krylov complexity, that I use presently in studying quantum dynamics, also successfully captures emergence of chaos in various setups. Hence, I have found myself naturally interested in the broader understanding of quantum chaos and their connection to Random Matrix Theory. Most recently, these connections have also made me excited to study diffusive hydrodynamics in dissipative systems.
Research interests
I am interested in understanding the correspondence between quantum field theories and gravity theories living in one extra spatial dimension dual to each other through the famously known Gauge-Gravity duality. More precisely, I am interested in questions that involve defining and matching various quantum information measures in those theories systematically to study dynamical features. The concepts of operator growth, scrambling and quantum chaos appear frequently in such discussions and I use measures of entanglement and complexity as probes to understand these physics.
Publications
Selected publications
12/12/2023On Krylov complexity in open systems
Journal of High Energy Physics
Operator growth and Krylov construction in dissipative open quantum systems
Journal of High Energy Physics
Islands and complexity of eternal black hole and radiation subsystems for a doubly holographic model
JHEP
Recent publications
25/11/2025On the role of Area Metrics in AdS/CFT
On the role of Area Metrics in AdS/CFT
Complexity for one-dimensional discrete time quantum walk circuits
Physical Review A
Krylov complexity for non-local spin chains
Phys. Rev. D
Speed limits to the growth of Krylov complexity in open quantum systems
Phys. Rev. D
Spread complexity and localization in PT-symmetric systems
Physical Review B
Teaching
1. Taught in an autumn school: Taught a 10-hour course on "Introduction to Krylov complexity and its many facets" in the Theoretical Quantum Sciences Autumn School at University of Paderborn, Germany during 5-7 October, 2024.
2. Taught a course: Taught a 30-hour course on ``Open quantum systems in QM, QFT, and holography" in CHEP, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, during April-June 2023.
3. Taught in a summer school: Taught a 10-hour course on ``Introduction to circuit complexity in QM and QFT" in ST4 School on theoretical Physics, 2020.
Apart from this, I have also supervised several undergrad and masters students for summer projects.
1. Arunima Das ( BS-MS student NISER, Jatni) : Krylov Complexity in Heisenberg and Schrodinger Picture. (Presently a PhD student at Arizona State University, USA with Maulik Parikh).
2. Himanshu Sahu (Masters student IISc Bangalore) : Operator Growth in Open Quantum Systems (Presently a PhD student at the Perimeter Institute with Sisi Zhou).
3. Aneek Jana (BS-MS student, IISc Bangalore) : Complexity for Scattering amplitudes.(Presently a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin Madison, USA)
4. Maitri Ganguly (Masters student IISc Bangalore) : Krylov complexity for quench and con-mat (Presently a PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA)