THERMAL FLUCTUATIONS OF CHERN-SIMONS NUMBERS IN THE LATTICE SU(2) HIGGS-MODEL

We study the temperature dependence of the Chern-Simons number fluctua tions in the SU(2) Higgs model on Euclidean lattices with spatial size s up to 20(3). Temperatures well above the Higgs phase transition T-H are achieved on anisotropic lattices. Numerical results are compared t o perturbative results on finite lattices as well as in continuum pert urbation theory. We find qualitative agreement with perturbation estim ates and see at high temperatures a tendency towards static configurat ions. Up to temperatures T similar or equal to 2T(H) we find an indica tion that tunneling between vacuums with different Chern-Simons number s is still exponentially suppressed.