Phys. Rev. D 37, 1030–1035 (1988)Nontrivial homotopy and tunneling by topological instantonsReceived 30 September 1987; published in the issue dated 15 February 1988 Tunneling by topological instantons is described as a consequence of nontrivial homotopy among field histories and not of barrier penetration. A derivation of the Yang-Mills θ vacua, with finite-action (weak) boundary conditions, is given from this perspective which clarifies certain weaknesses of the barrier-penetration approach. The treatment of nontrivial homotopy in field-theory path integrals is discussed with special attention to the roles of finite action, compactification, continuity of paths, and the justification of the use of Euclidean instantons in a Minkowski-time path integral. © 1988 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.37.1030
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.37.1030
PACS:
11.15.Kc, 03.65.Db, 03.65.Sq
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