Exact ground-state properties of the SU(2) Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory

The SU(2) Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory is shown explicitly to be equivalent to a nonrelativistic quantum many-body problem in S/sup 3/. By exploiting this equivalence, a many-body Monte Carlo algorithm is devised to solve for its ground-state properties. To the extent that a trial wave function consisting of a product of single-plaquette functions is a good approximation to the exact ground state, the present Monte Carlo method is shown to be an efficient means of calculating the ground-state energy with high precision.