Prepotential formulation of SU(3) lattice gauge theory

The SU(3) lattice gauge theory is reformulated in terms of SU(3) prepotential harmonic oscillators. This reformulation has enlarged SU(3) circle times U(1) circle times U(1) gauge invariance under which the prepotential operators transform like matter fields. The Hilbert space of SU(3) lattice gauge theory is shown to be equivalent to the Hilbert space of the prepotential formulation satisfying certain color invariant Sp(2, R) constraints. The SU(3) irreducible prepotential operators which solve these Sp(2, R) constraints are used to construct SU(3) gauge invariant Hilbert spaces at every lattice site in terms of SU(3) gauge invariant vertex operators. The electric fields and the link operators are reconstructed in terms of these SU(3) irreducible prepotential operators. We show that all the SU(3) Mandelstam constraints become local and take a very simple form within this approach. We also discuss the construction of all possible linearly independent SU(3) loop states which solve the Mandelstam constraints. The techniques can be easily generalized to SU(N).