Range of topological fluctuations in the three-flavor linear sigma model

Abstract

The topological charge density two-point function is computed in a three-flavor effective linear meson model, including contributions from topological sectors with arbitrary charge. A corresponding composite field is introduced via a Hubbard-Stratonovich transformation. In the $\eta$-$\eta$' sector, the model yields very accurate spectroscopy with negligible mixing with the composite field. The resulting topological susceptibility allows for the extraction of a surprisingly large absolute scale for the range of topological fluctuations. When compared with various QCD-based estimates, this indirectly suggests the dominance of higher topologically charged configurations in the ground state.