Visualizing dynamics of charges and strings in (2 + 1)D lattice gauge theories

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T. A. Cochran, B. Jobst, E. Rosenberg, Y. D. Lensky, G. Gyawali, N. Eassa, M. Will, A. Szasz, D. Abanin, R. Acharya, L. Aghababaie Beni, T. I. Andersen, M. Ansmann, F. Arute, K. Arya, A. Asfaw, J. Atalaya, R. Babbush, B. Ballard, J. C. Bardin et al. (170 additional authors not shown)

Published: 12 Jun 2025, Last Modified: 26 Jan 2026NatureEveryoneRevisionsCC BY-SA 4.0
Abstract: Lattice gauge theories (LGTs)1–4 can be used to understand a wide range of phenomena, from elementary particle scattering in high-energy physics to effective descriptions of many-body interactions in materials5–7. Studying dynamical properties of emergent phases can be challenging, as it requires solving many-body problems that are generally beyond perturbative limits8–10. Here we investigate the dynamics of local excitations in a $${{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}$$ LGT using a two-dimensional lattice of superconducting qubits. We first construct a simple variational circuit that prepares low-energy states that have a large overlap with the ground state; then we create charge excitations with local gates and simulate their quantum dynamics by means of a discretized time evolution. As the electric field coupling constant is increased, our measurements show signatures of transitioning from deconfined to confined dynamics. For confined excitations, the electric field induces a tension in the string connecting them. Our method allows us to experimentally image string dynamics in a (2+1)D LGT, from which we uncover two distinct regimes inside the confining phase: for weak confinement, the string fluctuates strongly in the transverse direction, whereas for strong confinement, transverse fluctuations are effectively frozen11,12. We also demonstrate a resonance condition at which dynamical string breaking is facilitated. Our LGT implementation on a quantum processor presents a new set of techniques for investigating emergent excitations and string dynamics. In a quantum simulation of a (2+1)D lattice gauge theory using a superconducting quantum processor, the dynamics of strings reveal the transition from deconfined to confined excitations as the effective electric field is increased.