Topologically non-trivial field configurations - interplay of vortices and Dirac eigenmodes

Abstract

Gluon field configurations with non-trivial topology like instantons, magnetic monopoles and center vortices play a crucial role in QCD and, in particular, for the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry. Moreover, center vortices are strongly correlated with confinement. We present evidence, that there is a deep connection between the topology of gauge fields and center vortices. We use the chirally improved lattice Dirac operator to compute eigenvectors and eigenvalues of various lattice gauge field configurations. Removing vortices from thermalized configurations also removes the topological content of the gauge field. As a consistency check, we apply random changes to the raw configurations.