The Early Days of Lattice Gauge Theory

TL;DR

This paper reviews the historical development and success of lattice gauge theory as a non-perturbative approach to studying strong interactions, highlighting its achievements and future challenges.

Contribution

It provides a historical perspective on lattice gauge theory's emergence and summarizes its key successes in understanding quark confinement and strong interaction properties.

Findings

Demonstrated quark confinement convincingly

Obtained properties of strong interactions from first principles

Highlighted future challenges for lattice gauge theory

Abstract

I discuss some of the historical circumstances that drove us to use the lattice as a non-perturbative regulator. This approach has had immense success, convincingly demonstrating quark confinement and obtaining crucial properties of the strong interactions from first principles. I wrap up with some challenges for the future.