A Markov chain update scheme using a machine-learned flow-based generative model is proposed for Monte Carlo sampling in lattice field theories. The generative model may be optimized (trained) to produce samples from a distribution approximating the desired Boltzmann distribution determined by the lattice action of the theory being studied. Training the model systematically improves autocorrelation times in the Markov chain, even in regions of parameter space where standard Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms exhibit critical slowing down in producing decorrelated updates. Moreover, the model may be trained without existing samples from the desired distribution. The algorithm is compared with HMC and local Metropolis sampling for φ 4 theory in two dimensions.

We define a class of machine-learned flow-based sampling algorithms for lattice gauge theories that are gauge invariant by construction. We demonstrate the application of this framework to U(1) gauge theory in two spacetime dimensions, and find that, at small bare coupling, the approach is orders of magnitude more efficient at sampling topological quantities than more traditional sampling procedures such as hybrid Monte Carlo and heat bath.

We develop a flow-based sampling algorithm for SU(N ) lattice gauge theories that is gaugeinvariant by construction. Our key contribution is constructing a class of flows on an SU(N ) variable (or on a U(N ) variable by a simple alternative) that respect matrix conjugation symmetry. We apply this technique to sample distributions of single SU(N ) variables and to construct flow-based samplers for SU(2) and SU(3) lattice gauge theory in two dimensions.