Understand
The gradient (Wilson) flow has been introduced recently in order to provide a solid theoretical framework for the smoothing of ultraviolet noise in lattice gauge configurations.
- It is interesting to ask how it compares with other, more heuristic and numerically cheaper smoothing techniques, such as standard cooling.
- In this study we perform such a comparison, focusing on observables related to topology.
- We show that, already for moderately small lattice spacings, standard cooling and the gradient flow lead to equivalent results, both for average quantities and configuration by configuration.
Reading the bibliography…