Topological Summation in Lattice Gauge Theory

Abstract

In gauge theories the field configurations often occur in distinct topological sectors. In a lattice regularised system with chiral fermions, these sectors can be defined by referring to the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem. However, if such a model is simulated with local updates of the lattice gauge configuration, the Monte Carlo history tends to get stuck in one sector for many steps, in particular on fine lattices. Then expectation values can be measured only within specific sectors. Here we present a pilot study in the 2-flavour Schwinger model which explores methods of approximating the complete result for an observable - corresponding to a suitable sum over all sectors - based on numerical measurements in a few specific topological sectors. We also probe various procedures for an indirect evaluation of the topological susceptibility, starting from such topologically restricted measurements. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.