Sampling using gauge equivariant flows

Sebastien Racaniere, Danilo Jimenez Rezende, Phiala Shanahan, Kyle Cranmer, Gurtej Kanwar, Michael Samuel Albergo, Denis Boyda, Daniel Hackett

Abstract: We develop a flow-based sampling algorithm for SU (N) lattice gauge theories that is gauge invariant by construction. Our key contribution is constructing a class of flows on an SU (N) variable [or on a U (N) variable by a simple alternative] that respects matrix conjugation symmetry. We apply this technique to sample distributions of single SU (N) variables and to construct flow-based samplers for SU (2) and SU (3) lattice gauge theory in two dimensions.