Topological susceptibility near Tc in SU(3) gauge theory

Topological charge susceptibility chi(t) for pure gauge SU(3) theory at finite temperature is studied using anisotropic lattices. The over-improved stout-link smoothing method is utilized to calculate the topological charge. Near the phase transition point we find a rapid declining behavior for chi(t) with values decreasing from (188(1) MeV)(4) to (67(3) MeV)(4) as the temperature increased from zero temperature to 1.9T(c) which demonstrates the existence of topological excitations far above T-c. The 4th order cumulant c(4) of topological charge, as well as the ratio c4/chi(t) is also investigated. Results of c(4) show step-like behavior near T-c while the ratio at high temperature agrees with the value as predicted by the diluted instanton gas model. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.