Center vortices and Dirac eigenmodes in SU(2) lattice gauge theory Original Research Article

We study the interplay between Dirac eigenmodes and center vortices in SU(2) lattice gauge theory. In particular, we focus on vortex-removed configurations and compare them to an ensemble of configurations with random changes of the link variables. We show that removing the vortices destroys all zero modes and the near zero modes are no longer coupled to topological structures. The Dirac spectrum for vortex-removed configurations in many respects resembles a free spectrum thus leading to a vanishing chiral condensate. Configurations with random changes leave the topological features of the Dirac eigensystem intact. We finally show that smooth center vortex configurations give rise to zero modes and topological near zero modes.