Hidden Topological Angles in Path Integrals

We demonstrate the existence of hidden topological angles (HTAs) in a large class of quantum field theories and quantum mechanical systems. HTAs are distinct from theta parameters in the Lagrangian. They arise as invariant angles associated with saddle points of the complexified path integral and their descent manifolds (Lefschetz thimbles). Physical effects of HTAs become most transparent upon analytic continuation in n(f) to a noninteger number of flavors, reducing in the integer nf limit to a Z(2) valued phase difference between dominant saddles. In N = 1 super Yang-Mills theory we demonstrate the microscopic mechanism for the vanishing of the gluon condensate. The same effect leads to an anomalously small condensate in a QCD-like SU(N) gauge theory with fermions in the two-index representation. The basic phenomenon is that, contrary to folklore, the gluon condensate can receive both positive and negative contributions in a semiclassical expansion. In quantum mechanics, a HTA leads to a difference in semiclassical expansion of integer and half-integer spin particles.