Cavity models of non-Abelian gauge theories
Abstract
In quantum optics and related fields, cavity quantum electrodynamics provides a powerful framework for modeling the low-energy properties of bound charges coupled to electromagnetic fields, using a minimal set of atomic levels and isolated photonic modes. Here, we develop a similar framework for non-Abelian gauge theories, focusing on the pure-gauge dynamics of SU(2) fields as the conceptually simplest example. Starting from the corresponding Yang-Mills Lagrangian, we derive an SU(2) cavity Hamiltonian in the Coulomb gauge, represented in terms of only three localized bosonic modes. Unlike its non-interacting electromagnetic counterpart, this model exhibits a nontrivial excitation spectrum featuring bound composite gauge particles ('glueballs') as the lowest-energy configurations. We extend this framework to one-dimensional arrays of coupled SU(2) cavities and discuss the driven excitation of a glueball condensate and the clustering of multi-glueball states as two elementary interaction-induced processes in these models. These examples offer a glimpse into the multitude of novel many-body phenomena that arise within this cavity SU(2) framework and we show how this physics at the interface between particle physics and quantum optics can be experimentally explored using state-of-the-art superconducting quantum circuits.
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BibTeX
@misc{valor2026cavity,
title = {{Cavity models of non-Abelian gauge theories}},
author = {Lucia Valor and Jacquelin Luneau and Klaus Liegener and Stefan Filipp and Peter Rabl},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.27070},
eprint = {2610.27070},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.27070},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cavity models of non-Abelian gauge theories
AU - Lucia Valor
AU - Jacquelin Luneau
AU - Klaus Liegener
AU - Stefan Filipp
AU - Peter Rabl
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.27070
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.27070
AB - In quantum optics and related fields, cavity quantum electrodynamics provides a powerful framework for modeling the low-energy properties of bound charges coupled to electromagnetic fields, using a minimal set of atomic levels and isolated photonic modes. Here, we develop a similar framework for non-Abelian gauge theories, focusing on the pure-gauge dynamics of SU(2) fields as the conceptually simplest example. Starting from the corresponding Yang-Mills Lagrangian, we derive an SU(2) cavity Hamiltonian in the Coulomb gauge, represented in terms of only three localized bosonic modes. Unlike its non-interacting electromagnetic counterpart, this model exhibits a nontrivial excitation spectrum featuring bound composite gauge particles ('glueballs') as the lowest-energy configurations. We extend this framework to one-dimensional arrays of coupled SU(2) cavities and discuss the driven excitation of a glueball condensate and the clustering of multi-glueball states as two elementary interaction-induced processes in these models. These examples offer a glimpse into the multitude of novel many-body phenomena that arise within this cavity SU(2) framework and we show how this physics at the interface between particle physics and quantum optics can be experimentally explored using state-of-the-art superconducting quantum circuits.
ER -