Topological susceptibility near $T_c$ in SU(3) gauge theory

Abstract

Topological charge susceptibility ${\chi }_t$ for pure gauge SU(3) theory at finite temperature is studied using anisotropic lattices. The over-improved stout-link smoothing method is utilized to calculate the topological charge. Near the phase transition point we find a rapid declining behavior for ${\chi }_t$ with values decreasing from $(188(1)\mathrm{MeV}{)}^4$ to $(67(3)\mathrm{MeV}{)}^4$ as the temperature increased from zero temperature to $1.9T_c$ which demonstrates the existence of topological excitations far above $T_c$. The 4th order cumulant $c_4$ of topological charge, as well as the ratio $c_4/{\chi }_t$ are also investigated. Results of $c_4$ show step-like behavior near $T_c$ while the ratio at high temperature agrees with the value as predicted by the diluted instanton gas model.

Comments: 8 pages, 4 figures;version accepted by PLB one reference added