The Atiyah–Patodi–Singer index on a lattice

Abstract

Abstract We propose a nonperturbative formulation of the Atiyah–Patodi–Singer (APS) index in lattice gauge theory in four dimensions, in which the index is given by the $\eta$ invariant of the domain-wall Dirac operator. Our definition of the index is always an integer with a finite lattice spacing. To verify this proposal, using the eigenmode set of the free domain-wall fermion we perturbatively show in the continuum limit that the curvature term in the APS theorem appears as the contribution from the massive bulk extended modes, while the boundary $\eta$ invariant comes entirely from the massless edge-localized modes.