Gauss Law, Monodromy Defect, Magnetic Lattice Translation, and Lattice Duality

Abstract

In a Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory, the physical Hilbert space is fixed by the Gauss law, by choosing an eigenspace of the Gauss law operator which generates the gauge transformation. Choosing a non-trivial eigenspace is referred to as the modified Gauss law. In 2+1d dynamical U(1) pure gauge theory, we show that these physical Hilbert spaces are defect Hilbert spaces associated with non-topological monodromy defects for monopole operators and topological defects for U(1) 1-form symmetry, inserted along the time direction. We also construct the corresponding lattice translation operators. Under a nontrivially modified Gauss law, these translations obey a magnetic translation algebra. Finally, we discuss how the modified Gauss laws are manifested in 2+1d compact bosons, via exact duality on the lattice.