Confinement transition of $Z_2$ gauge theory coupled to fermions. A sign problem free quantum Monte Carlo study.

In two space dimensions, the $Z_2$ lattice gauge theory is known to undergo a zero temperature confinement to de-confinment quantum phase transition . In this work, we study how this transition is modified in the presence of lattice fermions which are minimally coupled to the $Z_2$ gauge field. This may be viewed as an extreme version of the BEC-BCS transition where fermions are confined in the strong coupling phase. We investigate both a square lattice model with a large fermi surface and Dirac fermions realized on a $\pi$ flux and honeycomb lattices. The models are found to be free of the numerical sign problem for all fermion density. In addition, we introduce a numerical method to stochastically incorporate the Gauss law constraint in a quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulation. The phase diagram as a function of the model parameters, chemical potential and temperature is determined by means of a large scale determinant QMC.