2025/09/10 by Cataldi, Giovanni, Orlando, Simone, Halimeh, Jad C. · 6 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.08868
Understanding flux string dynamics can provide insight into quark confinement and hadronization. First-principles quantum and numerical simulations have mostly focused on toy-model Abelian lattice gauge theories (LGTs). With the advent of state-of-the-art quantum simulation experiments, it is important to bridge this gap and study string dynamics in non-Abelian LGTs beyond one spatial dimension. Using tensor network methods, we simulate the real-time string dynamics of a 2 + 1D SU(2) Yang--Mills LGT with dynamical matter. In the strong-coupling regime and at resonance, string breaking occurs through sharp Casimir reduction along with meson and baryon-antibaryon formation, a distinctively non-Abelian feature. At finite baryon density, we discover a baryon blockade mechanism that delays string breaking. Away from resonance, the magnetic term drives purely non-Abelian fluctuations: glueball loops and self-crossed strings that resolve two SU(2) intertwiners with distinct dynamics. For higher-energy strings, we uncover representation-dependent tension-reduction resonances. Our findings serve as a guide for upcoming quantum simulators of non-Abelian LGTs.