{
  "abstract": "Hydrodynamics as an effective field theory (EFT) has been immensely successful for predicting the behaviour of time-ordered correlation functions in the long-time, large-distance regime. In this paper, we analyse the predictions of hydrodynamics for scrambling as probed by out-of-time order correlators (OTOCs). To do so, we consider an all-derivative order generalisation of the Schwinger-Keldysh EFT of hydrodynamics extended to a four-fold time contour required to capture OTOCs. A crucial ingredient of the construction is a local SL(2,R) symmetry, which has previously been suggested as a mechanism for scrambling. We also derive this exact EFT from the microscopic formulation of the maximally chaotic low-temperature limit of the SYK lattice, thereby determining all transport coefficients for this model. As a novel application, we compute the OTOC of energy currents, find that its exponential growth saturates the chaos bound, and match it to expectations based on a shockwave (or scramblon) effective description. Our work shows that the universality of hydrodynamics degrees of freedom extends beyond traditional time-ordered correlators to more complex observables such as OTOCs.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.16888",
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Marta Bucca"
    },
    {
      "name": "Akash Jain"
    },
    {
      "name": "Márk Mezei"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexey Milekhin"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4f83t9dg9g5zm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.16888",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4f83t9dg9g5zm",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16888",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.stat-mech"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.str-el"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-th"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Black Holes and Theoretical Physics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221833715",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.16888",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-12",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4f83t9dg9g5zm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:06Z",
      "native_id": "2610.16888",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16888"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.str-el",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-th",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.stat-mech",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Out-of-time-order hydrodynamics and scrambling",
  "title_text": "Out-of-time-order hydrodynamics and scrambling",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:06Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4f83t9dg9g5zm",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}