  We revisit the strong coupling limit of the Schwinger model on the lattice
using staggered fermions and the hamiltonian approach to lattice gauge
theories. Although staggered fermions have no continuous chiral symmetry, they
posses a discrete axial invari ance which forbids fermion mass and which must
be broken in order for the lattice Schwinger model to exhibit the features of
the spectrum of the continuum theory. We show that this discrete symmetry is
indeed broken spontaneously in the strong coupling li mit. Expanding around a
gauge invariant ground state and carefully considering the normal ordering of
the charge operator, we derive an improved strong coupling expansion and
compute the masses of the low lying bosonic excitations as well as the chiral
co ndensate of the model. We find very good agreement between our lattice
calculations and known continuum values for these quantities already in the
fourth order of strong coupling perturbation theory. We also find the exact
ground state of the antiferromag netic Ising spin chain with long range Coulomb
interaction, which determines the nature of the ground state in the strong
coupling limit.
