Comparison of | Q|=1 and | Q|=2 gauge-field configurations on the lattice four-torus

Abstract

It is known that exactly self-dual gauge-field configurations with topological charge | Q|=1 cannot exist on the untwisted continuum four-torus. We explore the manifestation of this remarkable fact on the lattice four-torus for SU(3) using advanced techniques for controlling lattice discretization errors, extending earlier work of De Forcrand et al. for SU(2). We identify three distinct signals for the instability of | Q|=1 configurations, and show that these signals manifest themselves early in the cooling process, long before the would-be instanton has shrunk to a size comparable to the lattice discretization threshold. These signals do not appear for the individual instantons which make up our | Q|=2 configurations. This indicates that these signals reflect the truly global nature of the instability, rather than the local discretization effects which cause the eventual disappearance of the would-be single instanton. Monte-Carlo generated SU(3) gauge-field configurations are cooled to the self-dual limit using an O(a 4) -improved gauge action chosen to have small but positive O(a 6) errors. This choice prevents lattice discretization errors from destroying instantons provided their size exceeds the dislocation threshold of the cooling algorithm. Lattice discretization errors are evaluated by comparing the O(a 4) -improved gauge-field action with an O(a 4) -improved action constructed from the square of an O(a 4) -improved lattice field-strength tensor, thus having different O(a 6) discretization errors. The number of action-density peaks, the instanton size, and the topological charge of configurations is monitored. We observe a fluctuation in the total topological charge of | Q|=1 configurations, and demonstrate that the onset of this unusual behavior corresponds with the disappearance of multiple-peaks in the action density. At the same time discretization errors are minimal.