Scrambling in the charging of quantum batteries

A bstract Exponentially fast scrambling of an initial state characterizes quantum chaotic systems. Given the importance of quickly populating higher energy levels from low-energy states in quantum battery charging protocols, this work investigates the role of quantum scrambling in quantum batteries and its effect on optimal power and charging times by means of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, a maximally-chaotic black hole physics model that has been recently proposed as a quantum battery. We adopt a bare representation with normalized bandwidths to suppress system energy dependence. To our knowledge, this is the first in-depth exploration of quantum scrambling in the context of quantum batteries. By analyzing the dynamics of out-of-time-order correlators, our findings indicate that quantum scrambling does not necessarily lead to faster charging, despite its potential for accelerating the process.