Holographic chaos, pole-skipping, and regularity

We investigate the “pole-skipping” phenomenon in holographic chaos. According to pole-skipping, the energy-density Green’s function is not unique at a special point in the complex momentum plane. This arises because the bulk field equation has two regular near-horizon solutions at the special point. We study the regularity of the two solutions more carefully using curvature invariants. In the upper-half $\omega$-plane, one solution, which is normally interpreted as the outgoing mode, is in general singular at the future horizon and produces a curvature singularity. However, at the special point, both solutions are indeed regular. Moreover, the incoming mode cannot be uniquely defined at the special point due to these solutions.