  The Gauss law needs to be imposed on quantum states to guarantee gauge
invariance when one studies gauge theory in hamiltonian formalism. In this
work, we propose an efficient variational method based on the matrix product
ansatz for a Z_2 lattice gauge theory on a spatial ladder chain. Gauge
invariant low-lying states are identified by evaluating expectation values of
the Gauss law operator after numerical diagonalization of the gauge
hamiltonian.
