Lattice gauge tensor networks

We present a unified framework to describe lattice gauge theories by means of tensor networks: this framework is efficient as it exploits the high local symmetry content native to these systems by describing only the gauge invariant subspace. Compared to a standard tensor network description, the gauge invariant model allows one to increase real and imaginary time evolution up to a factor that is square of the dimension of the link variable. The gauge invariant tensor network description is based on the quantum link formulation, a compact and intuitive formulation for gauge theories on the lattice, which is alternative to and can be combined with the global symmetric tensor network description. We present some paradigmatic examples that show how this architecture might be used to describe the physics of condensed matter and high-energy physics systems. Finally, we present a cellular automata analysis which estimates the gauge invariant Hilbert space dimension as a function of the number of lattice sites that might guide the search for effective simplified models of complex theories.