The mass spectrum of the Schwinger model with matrix product states

Abstract

We show the feasibility of tensor network solutions for lattice gauge theories in Hamiltonian formulation by applying matrix product states algorithms to the Schwinger model with zero and non-vanishing fermion mass. We introduce new techniques to compute excitations in a system with open boundary conditions, and to identify the states corresponding to low momentum and different quantum numbers in the continuum. For the ground state and both the vector and scalar mass gaps in the massive case, the MPS technique attains precisions comparable to the best results available from other techniques.