Over-improved stout-link smearing

A new over-improved stout-link smearing algorithm, designed to stabilize instanton-like objects, is presented. A method for quantifying the selection of the over-improvement parameter, epsilon, is demonstrated. The new smearing algorithm is compared with the original stout-link smearing, and Symanzik improved smearing through calculations of the topological charge and visualizations of the topological charge density. We find the incorporation of improvement in stout-link smearing to be essential for the accurate study of QCD vacuum structure.