English

Topology of Calorons Re-examined

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-01-14 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We reconsider the detailed structure of the topological character of the instantons in pure Yang-Mills theory on S1×R3S^1\times\mathbb{R}^3, so-called calorons. The claim is that the standard formula for the topological character, the second Chern number, requires some modification through analytic consideration. For concreteness, we explicitly calculate the second Chern number of the gauge configuration of the Harrington-Shepard type with unit topological charge of the gauge group SU(2)\mathrm{SU}(2) in several gauges. The genuine formula is shown to be applicable even though the gauge connection is in singular gauge. The gauge dependence of the magnetic charge is also discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.08543,
  title  = {Topology of Calorons Re-examined},
  author = {Atsushi Nakamula and Genki Sumiyama},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.08543},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

24 pages, no figure