Asymptotic freedom and massive glueballs in a qubit-regularized SU(2) gauge theory

We argue that a simple qubit-regularized SU(2) lattice gauge theory on a plaquette chain serves as a pseudo–one-dimensional toy model for Yang-Mills theory in three spatial dimensions. We map the chain Hamiltonian to the transverse field Ising model in a uniform magnetic field and demonstrate that it can be tuned to a continuum limit in which the short-distance physics is governed by the asymptotically free Ising conformal field theory describing free Majorana fermions, while the long-distance regime contains massive excitations of the quantum field theory that can be interpreted as one-dimensional analogs of glueballs. Furthermore, we find where is the string tension between two static quarks and is the mass of the lightest glueball.

Duke Scholars

Author Shailesh Chandrasekharan Physics

Author Rui Xian Siew