  The $(2+1)$-d U(1) quantum link model is a gauge theory, amenable to quantum
simulation, with a spontaneously broken SO(2) symmetry emerging at a quantum
phase transition. Its low-energy physics is described by a $(2+1)$-d $\RP(1)$
effective field theory, perturbed by a dangerously irrelevant SO(2) breaking
operator, which prevents the interpretation of the emergent pseudo-Goldstone
boson as a dual photon. At the quantum phase transition, the model mimics some
features of deconfined quantum criticality, but remains linearly confining.
Deconfinement only sets in at high temperature.
