THE SU(3) TOPOLOGICAL SUSCEPTIBILITY AT ZERO AND FINITE TEMPERATURE - A LATTICE MONTE-CARLO EVALUATION

We extend previous calculations of the zero-temperature topological susceptibility, χt, to larger lattices (up to 204) and smaller lattice spacings (up to β=6.2). Using a new technique we are able to achieve a precise control of finite size corrections. We confirm, with much greater systematic and s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Teper, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 1988
Description
Summary:We extend previous calculations of the zero-temperature topological susceptibility, χt, to larger lattices (up to 204) and smaller lattice spacings (up to β=6.2). Using a new technique we are able to achieve a precise control of finite size corrections. We confirm, with much greater systematic and statistical precision, that the dimensionless ratio χt/K2 is independent of β for β≥5.7. This enables us to extract χt in physical units and we find χt=(179±4 MeV)4 - statistical error only - which is in striking agreement with the Witten-Veneziano calculation. We also investigate the previously observed fact that χt is suppressed as the temperature is raised through the deconfining transition. We find that χt is in fact discontinuous at the phase transition and that its temperature dependence is otherwise weak as long as it remains in a single well-defined phase. © 1988.