Topological susceptibility near $T_{c}$ in SU(3) gauge theory

Abstract: 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 $(188(1)\mathrm{MeV})^{4}$ to $(67(3)\mathrm{MeV})^{4}$ 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 $c_4/\chi_t$ are 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.