Topological quantities on an anisotropic SU(3) lattice around the critical temperature are studied. The distribution of instantons has been investigated through semilocal measurements of topological charge and magnetic and electric actions in the framework of a cooling method. The suppression of the topological susceptibility ${\chi }_t$ in a deconfining phase, seen on isotropic lattices, is found also on the anisotropic lattice. The instanton density is also suppressed above $T_c$. In addition to the instantons, other topological configurations are found and studied. Among those with no instantons, one class shows a vanishing topological charge density and metastable plateau of magnetic action in the cooling. Analyses of the magnetic charge, flux, and zero mode of a three-dimensional staggered fermionic operator indicate that such configurations have a nontrivial structure of magnetic flux and monopoles of the SU(3) gauge system.

• Received 16 January 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.42.620