Artificial gauge fields with ultracold atoms

Gauge fields are ubiquitous in nature. In the context of quantum electrodynamics, you may be most familiar with the photon, which represents the gauge field mediating electromagnetic forces. But there are also gluons, which mediate strong forces, and the W and Z particles, which mediate the weak forces. According to the standard model, those few gauge bosons, in fact, mediate all elementary interactions.