Yang-Mills for probabilists

Abstract

The rigorous construction of quantum Yang-Mills theories, especially in dimension four, is one of the central open problems of mathematical physics. Construction of Euclidean Yang-Mills theories is the first step towards this goal. This article presents a formulation of some of the core aspects this problem as problems in probability theory. The presentation begins with an introduction to the basic setup of Euclidean Yang-Mills theories and lattice gauge theories. This is followed by a discussion of what is meant by a continuum limit of lattice gauge theories from the point of view of theoretical physicists. Some of the main issues are then posed as problems in probability. The article ends with a brief review of the mathematical literature.