The forces of nature possess symmetries that physicists embody in so-called gauge theories. These theories have mathematical elegance, but they can be challenging to apply in systems whose constituents strongly interact. Performing calculations on a discrete lattice lightens the computational burden, but even that approach can be intractable. An alternative method is to simulate the system of interest with another more-tractable one whose quantum-mechanical description is the same. Now Han-Li Wang of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and his collaborators have done just that [1]. Using an optical lattice of 19 sites the team was able to mimic the behavior of massive particles in a rudimentary gauge theory. The experiments open a path toward more involved calculations.

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