A Novel Non-Perturbative Lattice Regularization of an Anomaly-Free $1 + 1d$ Chiral $SU(2)$ Gauge Theory (1706.04648v1)

Abstract: We present a numerical treatment of a novel non-perturbative lattice regularization of a $1+1d$ $SU(2)$ Chiral Gauge Theory. Our approach follows recent proposals that exploit the newly discovered connection between anomalies and topological (or entangled) states to show how to create a lattice regularization of any anomaly-free chiral gauge theory. In comparison to other methods, our regularization enjoys on-site fermions and gauge action, as well as a physically transparent fermion Hilbert space. We follow the `mirror fermion' approach, in which we first create a lattice regularization of both the chiral theory and its mirror conjugate and then introduce interactions that gap out only the mirror theory. The connection between topological states and anomalies shows that such interactions exist if the chiral theory is free of all quantum anomalies. Instead of numerically intractable fermion-fermion interactions, we couple the mirror theory to a Higgs field driven into a symmetry-preserving, disordered, gapped phase.