Transiting topological sectors with the overlap

Abstract

The overlap operator provides an elegant definition for the winding number of lattice gauge field configurations. Only for a set of configurations of measure zero is this procedure undefined. Without restrictions on the lattice fields, however, the space of gauge fields is simply connected. I present a simple low dimensional illustration of how the eigenvalues of a truncated overlap operator flow as one travels between different topological sectors.

Comments: Lattice2002(chiral): Poster at The XX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Boston, 2002)