Charged Boundary States in the Schwinger Model


  Adar Sharon  ,  Zohar Komargodski  
Weizmann Institute of Science

QED in 1+1 dimensions (also called the Schwinger Model) possesses two rare and interesting properties - It is both exactly solvable and confining. The combination of these two properties makes it the perfect candidate for a toy model for QCD. We study the model on an interval, where new features of the theory are revealed. We show that on an interval, the model admits charged states, which is unexpected for a confining theory. We show that the charged states are boundary states, and calculate their mass. This result could lead one to expect a similar result in QCD, where single quarks could be isolated near a boundary.