Chiral Anomaly and Index Theorem on a finite lattice

Abstract

The condition for a lattice Dirac operator D to reproduce correct chiral anomaly at each site of a finite lattice for smooth background gauge fields is that D possesses exact zero modes satisfying the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. This is also the necessary condition for D to have correct fermion determinant (ratio) which plays the important role of incorporating dynamical fermions in the functional integral.