The topological susceptibility induced by center projection vortices extracted from $\mathrm{SU}\left(2\right)\mathrm{}$ lattice Yang-Mills configurations via the maximal center gauge is measured. Two different smoothing procedures, designed to eliminate spurious ultraviolet fluctuations of these vortices before evaluating the topological charge, are explored. They result in consistent estimates of the topological susceptibility carried by the physical thick vortices characterizing the Yang-Mills vacuum in the vortex picture. This susceptibility is comparable to the one obtained from the full lattice Yang-Mills configurations. The topological properties of the $\mathrm{SU}\left(2\right)\mathrm{}$ Yang-Mills vacuum can thus be accounted for in terms of its vortex content.

• Received 18 April 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.64.074504