Speaker
Description
We study topology readout in $SU(3)$ Yang--Mills theory using several gradient-flow actions. We monitor the integerness of the gluonic topological charge $Q(t)$, admissibility-related diagnostics, and the matching between $\mathrm{round} Q(t)$ and the overlap Dirac index as probes of topological sector identification. We compare Wilson, tree-level Symanzik, Iwasaki, and DBW2 flows on Wilson plaquette ensembles at several lattice spacings. Wilson and Symanzik flows are standard choices, but their gluonic topological charge becomes less integer-like and less well matched to the fermionic index at large flow time. In contrast, Iwasaki and DBW2 flows give more stable sector readout. We also find no special feature when the smearing radius $r_{\rm sm}=\sqrt{8t},a$ reaches or exceeds $L/2$, suggesting that the large-flow-time behavior is not a simple finite-volume touching effect but a flow-action dependence of the gluonic topology operator. We further examine how these diagnostics change toward the continuum limit. This study is an $SU(3)$ extension of the flow-action dependence of topology observed in $SU(2)$ Yang--Mills theory in arXiv:2411.14812.