Circuit Complexity in $U(1)$ Gauge Theory

Abstract

We study circuit complexity for a free vector field of a $U(1)$ gauge theory in Coulomb gauge, and Gaussian states. We introduce a quantum circuit model with Gaussian states, including reference and target states. Using the Nielsen's geometric approach, the complexity then can be found as the shortest geodesic in the space of states. This geodesic is based on the notion of geodesic distance on the Lie group of Bogoliubov transformations equipped with a right-invariant metric. We use the framework of the covariance matrix to compute circuit complexity between Gaussian states. We apply this framework to the free vector field in general dimensions where we compute the circuit complexity of the ground state of the Hamiltonian.