Highly improved lattice field-strength tensor

We derive an partial derivative(a(4))-improved lattice version of the continuum field-strength tensor. Discretization errors are reduced via the combination of several clover terms of various sizes, complemented by tadpole improvement. The resulting improved field-strength tensor is used to construct partial derivative(a(4))-improved topological charge and action operators. As a test of our improved field-strength tensor, we compare the values attained by these operators as we cool several configurations to self-duality with a previously defined highly improved action and assess the relative scale of the remaining discretization errors. We demonstrate accuracy to better than one part in 10,000. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.