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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Continuum limit of a qubit-regularized SU(3) lattice gauge theory on a plaquette chain

Rui Xian Siew1,*, Shailesh Chandrasekharan1,†, and Tanmoy Bhattacharya2,‡

  • *Contact author: ruixian.siew@duke.edu
  • †Contact author: sch27@duke.edu
  • ‡Contact author: tanmoy@lanl.gov
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Phys. Rev. D 114, L071504 – Published 29 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xtsm-rw6d

Abstract

We show that a simple qubit-regularized SU(3) lattice gauge theory on a plaquette chain admits a continuum limit with massive gauge-invariant excitations, providing a minimal toy model of strong interactions without quarks. By mapping the plaquette-chain Hamiltonian to the three-state quantum clock model in a magnetic field, we demonstrate that the theory can be tuned to a continuum limit governed at short distances by the Z3 parafermion conformal field theory, which serves as the UV fixed point. A small relevant magnetic perturbation then drives the system to a massive continuum quantum field theory in the IR, featuring relativistic particles. In this continuum theory, we compute two universal ratios: the mass ratio of the lightest massive particles with opposite charge conjugation, m−/m+=1.459(2), and σ/m+=0.2648(2), where σ denotes the string tension between a static quark and antiquark.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, L071504– Published 29 October, 2026
  • Received 12 March 2026
  • Accepted 29 September 2026
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