Scalable cold-atom quantum simulator for two-dimensional QED

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable analog quantum simulator using ultra-cold atoms to emulate two-dimensional quantum electrodynamics, enabling exploration of complex gauge theories and phenomena like charge confinement.

Contribution

It extends previous one-dimensional schemes to two dimensions, engineering magnetic field terms for realistic simulation of higher-dimensional gauge theories.

Findings

Design of a scalable 2D quantum simulator for QED

Implementation of magnetic plaquette terms in the simulator

Potential to study charge confinement phenomena

Abstract

We propose a scalable analog quantum simulator for quantum electrodynamics (QED) in two spatial dimensions. The setup for the U(1) lattice gauge field theory employs inter-species spin-changing collisions in an ultra-cold atomic mixture trapped in an optical lattice. Building on the previous one-dimensional implementation scheme of Ref. [1] we engineer spatial plaquette terms for magnetic fields, thus solving a major obstacle towards experimental realizations of realistic gauge theories in higher dimensions. We apply our approach to pure gauge theory and discuss how the phenomenon of confinement of electric charges can be described by the quantum simulator.