Speaker
Description
Tunnelling between distinct topological sectors, described by instantons, plays a central role in understanding decorrelation in lattice gauge theory simulations. The gradient flow allows the smoothing of gauge configurations and, hence, the precise examination of these topological features. In this presentation, we systematically analyse the discretisation effects on topological quantities induced by the gradient flow using a theory with a single fermion in the two-index antisymmetric representation as an example. This particular theory serves as a proxy for supersymmetric models at large $N_c$ and could naively exhibit fractional topological charge. By improving the reliability and consistency of topological charge measurement and scale setting, we probe properties at the centre of the confinement mechanism for theories beyond QCD, which is particularly relevant for controlling simulations beyond the Standard Model on the lattice.
See published results in 2501.16043 (PoS), 2504.10197 (PRD) and 2603.05155.