Properties and uses of the Wilson flow in lattice QCD

Theoretical and numerical studies of the Wilson flow in lattice QCD suggest that the gauge field obtained at flow time t>0 is a smooth renormalized field. The expectation values of local gauge-invariant expressions in this field are thus well-defined physical quantities that probe the theory at length scales on the order of sqrt(t). Moreover, by transforming the QCD functional integral to an integral over the gauge field at a specified flow time, the emergence of the topological (instanton) sectors in the continuum limit becomes transparent and is seen to be caused by a dynamical effect that rapidly separates the sectors when the lattice spacing is reduced from 0.1 fm to smaller values.